According to Gartner, approximately 55% to 75% of ERP projects fail to achieve their intended goals. In our experience, there is a direct correlation between the planning that is done before the project starts, and the ultimate success of the implementation.

ERP implementations that are focussed on the technology upgrade are highly likely to fail. Simply “switching on” the technology does not equate to success. Our most successful ERP implementation was one where automated insights were enabled Day 1 due to our focus on complete and accurate data. The user teams were excited about the change because of the value it delivered to the business and to them as individuals .The project team was a combination of consultants and internal team, and the executive team prioritised the implementation.

So what can businesses do to increase the likelihood of a successful implementation?

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Data Preparation & Migration
In some of the failed system implementations, as high as 30% of the data loaded in the system at launch is incorrect. This means the majority of the insights being driven by the technology are incorrect. In our experience, the data-centric issues are driven by a multitude of factors:

• Incomplete and/or inaccurate data: legacy systems may contain errors, duplicates, or missing data, requiring a data preparation / cleansing workstream ahead of the data being loaded into the target ERP system
• Lack of complete data mapping: a lack of understanding of how data fields in the source system map to the target system, clarity around complex data relationships and hierarchies and manually mapping data without a clear data transformation plan
• Volume of data: migrating large data sets increases the risk of errors. Businesses should also be cautious of moving unnecessary data (either in terms of business value or timeliness) which will add complexity and consume resources without delivering value
• Integration challenges: failure to plan holistically how your ERP will integrate to the rest of your technology stack in an automated way can lead to manual integrations that belie data accuracy.

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Lack of effective Change Management
Whilst you are implementing technology, your people are at the centre of the change and their willingness to accept the change and readiness to use the system will impact the success of the implementation. In particular, we have seen users of the system may resist adopting the new platform if they are not adequately trained or are not involved in the process. Change elements to consider include:

• Taking the team at the centre of the change on a journey: we believe that successful change starts with the heart before the head. In our experience, if the WIIFM (What is in it for me?) is not clear, if how the change supports the business strategy is not clearly articulated, if the team feels change is being done “to” them rather than “with” them, they are more likely to resist the change or take much longer to get on board.
• Communication: communicating why the change is necessary, what is changing and communicating with employees throughout the implementation on a channel and in a manner that is best suited to them invariably impacts on their adoption of the change
• Training: learning how to use new systems can be tough, and middle and large scale ERP’s can be complex. To this end, training needs to be human-centered, multi-channel and extensive to ensure the team can use the system quickly. Success is not defined by delivery of the training, but rather the effectiveness of the training to get the team using the system effectively as soon as possible.
• Resources: in our experience, the most successful ERP implementations involve close collaboration between the implementation team (composed of either internal resources or contractors) and the key users. Backfilling capacity for key users (even part time) means they are part of design and configuration and launch, ensuring they will be better prepared for launch and also have better adoption. This also mitigates implementing a system that doesn’t align with business needs.

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Inadequate planning
In our experience, failure to adequately define scope, metrics for success, integration with other core systems and enable the project team leads to reactive decision making, costly over runs, protracted timelines and lack of team readiness to use the system.

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Lack of Executive Sponsorship
ERP implementations inevitably introduce changes in processes, policies and potentially people’s roles, sponsorship and drive from the top is critical. Without this sponsorship, the project may lack the necessary authority and resources to succeed, especially as if things start to go off-piste.

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Vendor challenges
Choosing a System Integrator (SI) that is right for your business and the stage of maturity you are at is critical to success. A vendor that does not invest in your specific business needs or lacks industry expertise can impact the success of the implementation. In addition, over-reliance on external consultants without having some of the internal team on the project can lead to impacts with knowledge transfer, in turn leading to longer term dependency and higher costs

Implementing technology is not a silver bullet. And simply focussing on turning on a new system without contemplating the above will ultimately impact on the success of the implementation. Success must be defined by a system going live with accurate data, teams that are ready to adopt the new system and an ability to realise value within the first two months.

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If this resonates with you, or highlights some of the issues your organisation is currently facing, click the “Contact Us” button or email us at info@evolvere.au.