How not to "get" on the ERP-system

The need for business automation exists, and you need to automate the business. However, for some reason in Russia, the statistics of such projects is not very impressive. There are many reasons for this, but one of them is the banal deception of clients at the negotiation stage, when clients are literally dusty and tell success stories, and when introduced, the client understands that he is being offered a donut hole.

Very often, the failure of the project to implement the ERP system is due to the fact that the system does not meet the expectations of the customer. In the process of choosing a solution, the customer sees one thing (he does not see more correctly, but hears), but in fact, when he tries to implement a product, he understands that he was literally deceived, and he has to develop elementary functionality at his own expense.
Here are a few tips, following which you can significantly reduce the risks of unsuccessful selection and implementation of ERP-system:

• Do not buy a cat in a bag and assume that they want to deceive you. Be on the alert and do not relax during the presentation of an erp-solution (hmm, but what about a solution? You still have to check it). The manufacturer should give you maximum information about the functionality of the system. And not just in the form of a colorful booklet, where it is written that “we can do this, this and many, many other things, but you will be just happy when you buy our product and you will do things like on that upward chart in our advertising booklet ". All the functionality of the system should be formally described and supported by instructions on where it should be written how exactly this or that functional area works.
• Decide what you want. I recently here at one of the customers inquired about the tasks that he would like to solve. The answer was ingenious - “I want to adjust management accounting”. Be determined more specifically, paint your requirements in more detail. Identify the specific tools you need. The more detailed you describe your requirements, the more difficult it will be to deceive you.
• Try it. Try to get the opportunity to try a system that is interested. And not just “poke the buttons”, but, for example, go through as many chains of specific business processes as possible and make sure that it works and that “not so”. Meet the representative. Before the meeting, arm yourself with a list of functional requirements and get ready for the fact that the entire presentation will be trying to splurge you. Do not buy into the words “easy to set up”, “a hundred times implemented”, “there is no such thing here, because this is a demo version”. Either you are shown, or not. If not shown, then it is not! If you show something, but you do not understand, do not hesitate to ask to repeat. Delve into the details and try to understand how you will work with this system if you try to implement it.
• Read the instructions. Ask the manufacturer to provide you with instructions for administering the system and instructions for users. In this part, as a rule, manufacturers have huge problems. And of course, this is a big field for making money by educating your users. Therefore, take these instructions and work on them in the test system. Try to understand how they are applicable in real life and how understandable they are. And if you are seriously told that “we are developing separate instructions in each case”, then I suggest you re-read the first paragraph of the article. Complete nonsense. No instructions - cook money.
• Readiness and readiness again. The more product is ready for use "here and now", the less it will cost you as a result, and the lower your risks of unsuccessful implementation. You should try not to buy a product that can potentially do anything, because it says so in that colorful booklet, but a product that already can do a lot. Therefore, when you watch a product, ask to show the product not abstractly, but specifically. For example, how the cost, supply, sales, etc. management system works. No need to listen to the seller's stories about "how space ships plow the expanses of the universe" and how "we have already implemented this a hundred times." Specifically, from what and who begins, where and what it brings, what happens next, and how it all ends. Thus, you can understand what ready-made tools are in the system. Because it is better to use some kind of ready-made tool, and, perhaps, to restrict yourself a little in something, but 10 times cheaper than what you did for yourself, but 10 times more expensive. In addition, any development is a risk, because it is not a fact that it will work.
• Not gods burn pots. Any ERP implementation is not only and not so much a business consulting, but a lot of routine work on setting up the system. This work is done by ordinary people. They are not gods, they just know how to do it, and even then not always. Because even they may not have instructions, oddly enough. And this work is better done independently. If there are instructions, of course. Do not be afraid to customize the product. If there are quality instructions, you can handle it. And in the future you will be more independent from the manufacturer.
• Get reference contacts or even visits. No need to agree to contacts and meetings with the IT administrator of the client. They have nothing to do with ERP, and it is much easier to “negotiate” an ERP vendor with them. It is better to try to contact the client’s management.

A simple example. Not so long ago, two very significant potential clients turned to my company. One sent the requirements on twenty A4 sheets, and the other sent the phrase “I don’t understand anything about it, but I want everything to be automated. What can you offer me? ” What do you think, in which case the chances of introducing erp more?
')
Remember the main thing - to introduce what is, much easier than to introduce what is not.