Vacuum cleaner is not equal to Clean house | ERP is not equal to Accessing clean & real time data

Vacuum cleaner

Clean house

The Purpose of a Vacuum cleaner is “clean house“. Like wise ERP is “access to Accurate and real time data“. Make no mistakes.

We’ve all seen the commercials: a powerful vacuum cleaner effortlessly sucks up dirt, leaving a pristine carpet in its wake. Yet, even the most advanced vacuum cleaner can’t guarantee a truly clean house if it’s not used consistently and properly. Honestly, most of vacuume cleaners are itself sitting in dust at homes.

Similarly, an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, while essential for managing business operations, can’t guarantee access to clean and real-time data if it’s not implemented and maintained effectively.

ERP

Access to Accurate and real time data

Let us take a look at components, the list & amount of activities happening for an ERP project. 

• ERP Software
• Delivery model
  • On Premise
  • Cloud
• Servers
  • Test
  • Development
  • Live
• OS / DB
• 3rd Party Application integrations if any
• Networking
• Laptops/ Desktops/ Printers
• Firewall
• Internet Bandwidth
• Installation
• Configuration
• System Study
• Process mapping
• Gap analysis
• Customisation
  • Process gaps
  • Reportings
• Testing
• User Training & Acceptance (UAT)
• Master Data Migration
• Cut-off
• Opening Balance migration
• Parallel run
• Go-live

• Management
  • Project management
  • System Administration
    • Server & Patch Managment  
    • Anti-virus & Firewall
    • Performance
    • Backup & DRS
  • Stakeholders Involvement
    • Reviews and Corrections
  • Change Management
  • Data Management
  • Internal and External Audits

All of the above will just boil-down to a dusty vacuum cleaner if it is not going to give you “Access to accurate and real-time data”.

A word of caution

The global survey says that “75% of the ERP projects either have failed or did not meet their business objectives”. This is very huge. This is only because of mispalced identity & belief of ERP as “Access to clean real-time data”

There are micro intuitive angles within this list of activities mentioned above that one or few persons have to passionately drive all through the project keeping the “Accessing accurate and real-time data in mind” all the time “not the ERP”. Only then the project can be made successful. 

For this to happen in an optimum way the following things are very important. 

• Core business requirements – (chop-off all bells and whistles. These will collapse the entire ERP project.)
• Closest ERP system that meets your needs it with least or no customisation
• Total Cost
• Step-by-step process activities
• Time frame for adoption
• one or few persons who will run this marathon till the clean and real-time data is achieved
• Strong project management
• Unwavering Top management support

Conclusion

While an ERP system offers immense potential to streamline and optimize business operations, it’s crucial to approach its implementation with a realistic perspective. The success of an ERP project hinges many factors listed above to ensure the quality and timeliness of data input, making it a collaborative effort between the vendor, consulting team, and end-users.

ERP vendors and their consulting partners must play a pivotal role in understanding and articulating the specific needs of each client. Unfortunately, the current market is often plagued & flooded by loosely affiliated system integrators and implementation partners, which can jeopardize project quality and timelines.

Ultimately, the success or failure of an ERP implementation directly impacts the business. By carefully selecting a vendor, establishing clear expectations, and fostering collaboration, organizations can harness the full potential of ERP technology and drive significant improvements in their operations.

Let’s discuss