ERP Implementation

Lowering ERP Implementation Costs

In this challenging economic climate, it’s no surprise that organizations are clamoring to cut costs in every department, nook and cranny within the organization.  It’s also no surprise that the economy has these same companies scrambling to initiate ERP implementation initiatives to mitigate falling sales demand, and cost reduction pressures while keeping current customers happy and service levels high to get potential new customers.

Enterprise software vendors and ERP implementation consultants are also very aware that companies could use cost cutting tools and enterprise applications to assist them in their efforts and are customizing and narrowly focusing their sales pitched and marketing plans to spotlight that enterprise applications and ERP implementations. Regardless of whether the ERP implementation is a large on premise app, or a smaller scale software on demand web hosted app, ERP vendors from all sizes are going out of their way to show companies how they can reduce ERP implementation costs as well as within the company..

As with most enterprise app, the key area to lower ERP implementation costs is to make sure you understand what your current businesses processes are today, and what  you want your business and processes will look like in the future.  Its important to know what direction you want your company to go and what your plans for the business will be 3 years and 10 years from now.  Armed with this information you are now ready to choose an enterprise solution that is right for you and that is a fit for your specific company, as opposed to getting a solution  that has attractive bells and whistles. As any ERP implementation consultant will tell you, the cost of an ERP implementation can greatly exceed the cost of the application itself.

For the right company, you can further cut implementation costs with a “fast-path implementation initiative.  Fast path implementations require implementing a solution with a preconfigured menu of business processes.  This means that you are very limited in customizing features or virtually anything.  This makes a sense if your business processes and industry happen to be the exact fit for the software application, however, if it is not, it could be a disaster.  That being said, doing your homework and conducting an in depth software selection process could dramatically reduce the cost of your ERP implementation and increase your IT investment ROI.

To help with this seamless implementation, get an expert to help you.  Finding a VAR or consultant with experience in your specific industry, your future ERP solution, and your legacy enterprise system will also be very important in ensuring that your budget, timelines and success goals are achieved.

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