Decreasing Cost and Increasing Benefits for Your ERP Investment
According to ZDNet and Panorama Consulting Solutions, who conduct annual surveys of ERP buyers, 2014 was the year where smaller ERP projects actually had more delays than larger projects. Looking back to the previous year, 2013 saw more and smaller projects than previous years and cost overruns remaining constant at 53-56 per cent between 2011 and 2013. However, the most concerning element of the report was that an increasing number of respondents reported reduced levels of benefit from their ERP investment. Even a 'smaller' ERP project is an huge undertaking in time, effort and adapting to change.
A cost overrun of anywhere up from 50% has come to be expected with IT and ERP systems projects and so one way to deal with it, is to budget for more cost than planned for. But this is not an ideal solution, especially if what you're basing the extra cost on is statistics from other organisation's bad planning and not the realities of the company you're in. You may as well just imagine any figure and write it down just to have something in that section of your business case or project plan.
The approach and attitude towards implementing ERP system projects probably needs an entire mind shift. Before working through one, or better yet, before even deciding to implement one, remind yourself of your company's business and strategic goals, and look at how the ERP system or new system is going to serve this. Take note of the perceived benefits you're going to gain and reasons your organisation has decided to take that step. We call this the benefits scorecard. Communicate this to all stakeholders and perhaps assess their understanding of the project and reasons for it. It's a change that affects everyone in a company, so you need to know that everyone firstly understands the reasons for the project and secondly the scope and their role within it. Using the benefits scorecard during and after the initial project is a good mechanism to keep everyone focussed on delivering benefits and not just on replacing the system.
Some of the reasons you're looking at an ERP project will likely be for it's scalability if you're growing or intending to grow, lower operations costs, improved reporting and better data quality and analytics, better supply chain management and for regulatory compliance requirements. There is a certain irony to these goals and the fact that time and time again, the ERP project itself lacks these qualities.
That's why Torque Management developed Rapid System™. We wanted a way to implement IT and ERP projects not just faster, but with better, lasting results, because to us, that is the point of an IT or ERP change in the first place. So this just makes sense. Taking principles and practices we've used with great results over time, we created a methodology taking these into account but which could be replicated and used repeatedly and in any industry. And it worked.
Using Rapid System™ meant we got to record results that were:
- Faster at every point
- Had less risk
- Made it easier for stakeholders to be involved and shift to the new system
- Was more efficient
- Was cheaper
- With no waste
- Contained the ability to integrate international quality standards and compliance for regulated industries
- And with higher user adoption rates
Find out more about Rapid System™ or Contact Us if you'd like a commitment free conversation about the benefits and how it might apply to your organisation.