Question

How to fix an ERP Failure?

Answer 1

Assess each area and department of the business that ERP is affecting. What are your key performance measures (order fill rate, time to close books, order accuracy, etc.)? Where are your biggest operational pain points? This will require you to reach out to key business stakeholders to get them involved, if they aren’t already.

Develop two-tiers of potential solutions: stop-gap / “quick fix” solutions and long-term solutions. Determine the costs and time required to implement each of the options.

Prioritize your problem / solution combinations to arrive at the top 5-10 areas where you will realize the most immediate business impact at the lowest cost (low hanging fruit). Many of these solutions may or may not involve ERP functionality. It may require more training of the system, configuring the system to support new solutions. My experience has shown that bussines processes and organizational change management are the most common problem areas in failed ERP projects, so many of your solutions may not even involve changing the system or implementing new functionality.

Begin implementing these low-hanging fruit solutions. The goal should be to build organizational momentum and confidence with these “quick wins.”

Once you get some quick wins in place with the shorter-term solutions, begin prioritizing and implementing your long-term, more permanent fixes the same way you did with your short-term problems.

Begin implementing long-term solutions as time and resources allow.

By following this approach, you will better position your organization to make your troubled implementation a success and optimize the business benefits of ERP.