One of the most direct ways to ensure your ERP implementation will fail is to purchase a solution without adequate testing of the application. Most of you reading this may think, “I would never do something that irresponsible,” consider these two facts: one third of all companies did not demo their ERP solution before buying it and 22 percent simply bought the first system they looked at. And we wonder why so many ERP implementations “fail”.
So how do you go about testing potential ERP solutions so that you don’t get burned? The process is quite simple, albeit time consuming if you are serious about finding the right product for your company.
Collect information on potential vendors
The first step of the process should be to gather as much information as possible from potential vendors. Talk to the sales team, including the sales engineers, to first find out if their product will even work within your current, or future, infrastructure. Also, you can start weeding out vendors based on price point and their target market here as well. Pay close attention in any product demos to see if the solution is flexible enough for you and don’t be afraid to ask questions about the different modules and features. They may cost extra so be sure of what is included. If any vendor or product fails to meet your company needs, forget about them.
Vet those on your list
Once you are able to weed out vendors who simply can’t meet your needs it is time to start researching those who did make your list. A web search for potential vendors can easily turn up problems that others have had along with success stories. You can also use these findings to reach out to companies who are customers and talk to them about the vendor and their product.
Trial the short list
Once you have a short list of potential vendors, its time to set up a trial of their solution. Make sure that your trial takes place in your infrastructure and your actual users are the ones who are checking out the software. Some vendors will run load tests that simulate tasks. This will not give you a good look at how the solution will preform in your environment. Make sure you get to run the software just as it would at go-live and really consider the feedback those users who get a hands-on look at the software. If they don’t like the way things work, you won’t have them on your side when it comes time to implement the software.
At this point, the sales team is almost expecting you to buy so don’t be surprised if you get a full press from them.
Once you have had the chance to fully test the products you are considering you should find one or two that you are comfortable with. If not, go back to the drawing board. If you purchase an ERP solution that doesn’t meet all of your needs then you are setting your project up for failure.
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