Without Restructuring, ERP Implementation Is An Expensive Waste | Pemeco ConsultingHome ERP Vendors Contact Us ServicesERP Implementation ERP Selection Business Requirements Assessment ERP Contract Negotiation ERP Optimization and Training IndustriesAerospace & Defense Manufacturing Distribution Professional Services Retail Government & Education InsightsERP Vendor Research Resource Center News ERP Implementation Book SoftwareBudget Application Planning Dashboard Manufacturing Extensions EventsERP Implementation Seminar ERP Selection Seminar Planning and Scheduling Excellence About UsPemeco Difference Our Leadership Team Our Consulting Team

Our Clients ERP Testimonials Careers ResourcesCategory Filter & Type Filter ShareHide (x)CategoriesAllERP Contracts NegotiationERP ImplementationERP Maintenance FeesERP Optimization and TrainingERP Project ManagementERP SERP SelectionERP Software ToolsERP StrategyERP VendorsManufacturing Planning and SchedulingTypesAllAnalysisArticleCase StudyDownloadsEditorialPress ReleaseSpreadsheetTemplateTipFilterWithout Restructuring, ERP Implementation Is An Expensive Wasteby Jonathan

Gross | Sep 15 2011If your organization is planning to implement ERP software without restructuring its operations, you can stop reading right now. In fact, you may as well take the money you're planning to spend on the project and throw

it in the bin.No matter how sophisticated your selected software may be, it can't make your organization significantly better in and of itself. In a best case scenario, your organization will become marginally better. And, you can be sure that the value of the marginal improvements won't be anywhere near the costs of an expensive, time-consuming and resource-intensive implementation project.I�ll even take this assertion one step further. If your organization doesn�t use its ERP project as an opportunity to restructure its business, the

project is very likely to get buried in the ERP graveyard, alongside the thousands of other ERP failures.Rather, your organization should use the project

as a catalyst for change. It's an excuse to streamline and improve the business.

ERP isn't a software project. It's a restructuring project; an organizational change project. You should look at your ERP project according to the 80/20 rule:

80% of the benefits are driven by business process improvements and 20% by the software itself.It�s important to keep these operational considerations in mind when evaluating ERP implementation proposals and service providers. If your organization is mid-sized, for example, and a service provider proposes end-to-end implementation in a couple of months' time, warning alarms should go off. Think about it. How long has your organization known that certain sub-optimal business processes have been hurting its performance? Probably for a

long time. Yet, it has probably stuck with those sub-optimal processes because changing them has seemed too daunting or complex.So, given this context, do you really think a service provider can accomplish the following in a short two month window: restructure the business processes, migrate data, properly train the users on the new processes AND system, implement the new processes and system, and test everything thoroughly? The answer is a most probable no. Doing all of these things well takes time, skill, hard work and commitment.All too often (seemingly more so recently), companies come to us for re-implementation or project rescue services. In many of these cases � and this is perhaps an oversimplification � the initial services provider loaded the software, migrated some data, did a bit of testing and gave basic training on what system sessions (screens) look like.The service provider didn�t help with the restructuring - i.e. the main project component - and didn�t ensure that the users learned the new system and processes (among many other problems we typically encounter,

including testing and data migration).What ends up happening is that these companies run systems that don�t jive with their ways of doing business. And, their businesses still have the same operational inefficiencies as before. The only difference is that they now have fancy, shiny software systems that spew out meaningless financial reports and operational recommendations. The bottom line is this: there�s no magic bullet. There are no secret shortcuts. ERP implementation success is all about successfully integrating the ERP system into

an optimized business environment.Given the context that ERP implementation is first and foremost an operational restructuring project, it�s very important to evaluate your ERP service provider through the lens of business expertise (among

other lenses).If you are:Unsure whether your implementation services proposal or project plan addresses your organization's operational needs sufficiently; or Unsure whether the proposed consultants have sufficient business or operations experiece, Contact our experts for an independent opinion (1.866.282.5899). As part of our full-service consulting offerings, we provide organizations with implementation diagnostics, risk assessments and action plans.At Pemeco Consulting, our experts have been helping organizations enhance operations and successfully implement enterprise software for over 30 years.Article Business Process Mapping ERP Implementation ERP Project Management ERP Success Organizational Change Management Share Great article and excellentSubmitted by Brett Beaubouef (not verified) on Sat, 2012-09-08 12:23. Great article and excellent advice for potential customers. The Allure of Technology! Think of the possibilities! Rapid delivery of new functionality! Reduce development cost by quickly deploying prebuilt solutions! If the software

does not meet your needs then use the delivered, user-friendly development tools

to customize the ERP software. We have the technology to make your business more

flexible and adaptable. Most customers do think about the possibilities quickly but have a hard time taking that vision and incorporating it into the realities that are involved with using ERP.http://gbeaubouef.wordpress.com/2010/12/22/erp-expensive-custom-solution/reply Hi Brett, Thanks for theSubmitted by admin on Fri, 2012-09-14 19:36. Hi Brett,Thanks for the positive feedback. Keep up your great work!reply I read this article about ERPSubmitted by Jn L. (not verified) on Fri, 2013-02-01 01:10. I read this article about ERP implementation and I totally understand what your experience is when going through an ERP project. I would like to read more postings on ERP, it's potential successes and past failures and I would like to be a reader searching for shared experience. Thank you for the information.reply This is a very accurateSubmitted by Daniel Reilly (not verified) on Mon, 2013-02-25 16:51. This is a very accurate article. One of the great things about an ERP implementation is how it can be used to accomplish organizational change. Difficult changes can be blamed on the ERP package and the package itself offers a straw man that makes it that much easier to get these changes implemented. As long as the implementation consultants know a good

deal about business and are not just product experts you can get a lot of business process improvements as a by-product of the ERP implementation. reply Post new commentYour name: E-mail: The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.Homepage: Comment: * Word verification: * (verify using audio) Type the characters you see in the picture above; if you can't read them, submit the form and a new image will be generated. Not case sensitive. Login or Register to Unlock Premium Content Milestone Deliverables$199.99Purchase Book & CD NewsletterSign up for ERP news, articles and best practices. Join ServicesERP Implementation ERP Selection Business Requirements Assessment ERP Contract Negotiation ERP Optimization and Training IndustriesAerospace & Defense Manufacturing Distribution Professional Services Retail Government &

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