Parallel to changing and increasing company needs; ERP, CRM and work intelligence software have been improving in terms of technology and functions they offer. This improvement and the increase in a number of choices have made the decision process harder; choosing strategic criteria according to strategic goals and making effective evaluations based on these criteria plays a key role in the success of projects.
While software choosing projects should not solely consider IT but also consider cost-benefit analysis, performance goals, and many other parties, some companies following the first approach doom their projects to fail before starting. It is also common that some companies that actually follow the second approach and look at the project from a holistic perspective disregard to the project after a while and push it to fail.
The first thing after determining the owner of the project and its scope is to conduct key analysis to find a company’s functional and technological needs. Looking at the current and intended structure expectations from and objective and sustainable point of view will give out the best solutions for these needs. At this point, companies who didn’t pay enough attention to need analysis before picking a software may find themselves compare only what different products can offer without knowing the needs of the company. However describing the needs and the products that will satisfy it should be prioritized. Products that both offer to less or too much fail to be optimum solutions. Another problem that arises is the chaos created while defining current conditions and future goals but fail to make a clear distinction. Determining the expected changes in the new structure and the requirements of these changes are critical for picking the right software.
After determining the needs based on comprehensive analysis the product selection process begins. At this point, the ideal approach would be to consider the extent which the candidate software address the needs of the company. The annual cost of owning according to the company’s growth plans, sectoral acknowledgements, the number and cost of business partners with expertise and the future goals and potential of the developer firm plays an important role in choosing the solution. However, it can be observed that firms behave price focused, act without conducting a comprehensive analysis and believe what is promised them and think that fast decision making defines success and hence prevent themselves from making correct decisions. Unfortunately, decisions that have benefits in the short time have both financial and moral irreversible negative impacts. Another point where companies don’t pay enough attention is when choosing the consultant firm that will implement the software. Working on consultant selection on a different phase will help when picking the software company that is the best fit. When choosing the consultant, the abilities, and seniorities of the team, the number of equivalent advisors, implementation methodologies, credentials and the financial situation must be considered as much as the cost of implementation. All software are as functional as the knowledge of the adviser that implements it. This explains how the same software can cause chaos on one firm while increasing effectivity on the other. Hence, as it gets more and more difficult to differentiate software the same or even more consideration should be given choosing a consultant as choosing the software.
In addition to what has mentioned above, an implementation management that is focused on achieving goals and cover change management applications. As in any topic with multiple parties, it is not viable to follow a trial and error approach at on this project. Foreseeing all possible risks with an experienced team and planning communication management activities required not only for project management but also for changes within the company have become prominent criteria among companies. Lastly, for both selection and implementation processes, working with a team with expertise on the matter and that is independent and success focused would directly affect the success of the project.
ERP Selection and Application Management
- Understanding current and future goals
- Analysis of current operational, organizational and technological infrastructure and determining improvement opportunities
- Determining IT requirements based on the target structure and preparing technical specifications
- Choosing a product according to the specifications and picking an adviser firm to implement it.
- Managing the implementation project
Why Quattro?
- A holistic approach forms the perspectives of strategy, process, organization, and technology
- Expertise in project restructuring
- Fund of knowledge on successful and unsuccessful parts of examples from different sectors and firms
- Experience in IT project management
