Don’t DIY Your ERP Implementation

What is far and away the the fastest means to fail at a major project and spend more money than you would have if you had a little help by your side? Try installing and deploying and ERP solution on your own.

The cost of ERP solutions has gone from a six-figure average to as low as five-thousand dollars for the core accounting, distribution, human resources and payroll modules for three concurrent users. The standard formula that you should be spending a one-to-one ratio multiplied by the cost of software on your ERP deployment no longer holds true. The fact is that ERP systems have continued to deliver more and more features and thusly have become more technically complicated crossing over many previously separate deliverables. These facts push implementation hours beyond what they used to be.

Where single ERP specialists could deliver in the past, now multiple experts are required in the areas of financials, IT, e-Commerce, distribution, supply chain, computer languages such as VBA, and integrators who can connect all the parts. There are also specialists for reporting and dashboards as well as integrated mobile applications. Software publishers have helped customers by lowering their sales price and making install and deployment simpler for the solution providers. This allows the solution providers to deliver more content and value for your implementation dollar.

The bottom line is that whatever your core business is, that is where your core expertise is. Solution providers only do one thing – and they do that far better for far less than you can.

Why ‘Checking Out a Book’ Is Not an Option

The install is generally simple, but even here there are key decisions – such as account length and number of segments – that if done incorrectly will effect performance and can cost a good deal of money. Your solution provider knows these key decisions and has them in mind well before the first piece of code is loaded. SQL server settings can be key, also. If you have a SQL expert on staff, ask yourself how many installs of the ERP software you’ve purchased have they done in previous months? If the solution provider’s technical resources can address all these tasks in an one hour, and your team does the research in four to six hours then decides on what selections to make, how is that saving you money?

Industry Experience

One of the key values a solution provider delivers is their experiences. They’re experts with far more companies on ERP projects and they can share these experiences – without sharing any proprietary secrets – to help you make informed choices on things like inventory valuation, General Ledger format and how this will help deliver the reporting results you need. In the ERP world, so many things are inter-connected that it is critical the setup of the company defaults and individual module processing is well-considered. No one who has not done this many times can anticipate the pitfalls that your solution provider is already well aware of.

Accountability

If you hire a firm as your professional expert to document your needs on something you both signed off on and it’s not delivered, you then have recourse. You can withhold payment, ask for the report to be corrected, or in worst-case situation hire a new expert. You have more choices than you think and your risk is moved from you to them.

Risk is what implementations are all about. Your goal is to eliminate as much risk as you can within a reasonable budget. The more risk you push to the solution provider, generally the higher the cost.

Risk Aversion

The real challenge to any implementation is the hidden factors that only an ERP solution provider is aware of and experienced at dealing with. Change is a huge part of any ERP deployment and the ability to ensure that team members are shown how to deal with change and embrace it rather than push back rests squarely on the shoulders of the ERP solution provider. There are many ways to fail at an implementation and ERP solution providers have dealt with them soundly time and time again. Most firms simply are not equipped to deal with these issues effectively. By attempting to “Do It Yourself”, you will not be saving any time or money in dealing with the inundating issues.

The Clear Choice

It should be fairly easy to understand why DIY is not a choice for ERP. That does not mean you should not be as involved as possible; the more you share with your solution provider the better. Always bear in mind that the initial implementation is simply the beginning. Once your ERP system is live you can and should continually review and expand the system to provide greater and deeper benefits to your firm, your team members and your customers. Until then, leave the implementation to the experts.