Steve is an ERP professional with over twenty-seven years of implementation experience both as an industry practitioner and consultant. This extensive background is coupled with functional experience in operations management, IT management, and business reengineering.
ERP skills include sr. management education, software selection, project management, application consulting, business process redesign, detail systems design, testing, and training. Successful projects within distribution, manufacturing, aerospace/defense and public sector environments.
Author of the book: "Control Your ERP Destiny". Available on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and other book sellers.
Many within the ERP industry tend to focus on the somewhat comical number of ERP project failures. From the perspective of sr. management, often the biggest unpleasant surprise is the actual ERP implementation costs.
Yorur business should choose its consultants and vendors carefully; though they can't own your ERP project, they can contribute to its ultimate success (or failure).
I must admit, I am a bit of an oddity in the ERP industry. Many consider me a consultant because I once ran with the pack at a Big Five firm. Others like to peg my views as those of a “client practitioner.” However, since I no longer use outside consultants, how can I be a client? One thing is for sure—I have no software or implementation services to sell you.
As an alternative to developing additional functionality within their base ERP offering, many software vendors purchase third-party applications (from another vendor), and sell the software as a "bolt-on" module. ERP history has shown that vendors often push bolt-ons once their clients discover during the software evaluation that their base package does not address their needs in specific areas.
While top ERP solution net various business benefits, many companies mistakenly base a large portion of project justification on employee staff reductions. In this article consultant Steven Phillips discusses the connection between ERP software and staff reductions.
Without credible knowledge workers (business analysts), the risk is that system requirements are shaped solely by current operating paradigms, user whims, and the departmental silos. When this occurs, you are automating the mess you already have. Also, sometimes we need to find creative ways to work around major software limitations.
Most industry experts agree that successful ERP projects require a good plan for managing organizational change. An important part of this strategy is an executive steering team that is committed to pushing the project forward. However, ERP history has shown that driving the change from the top down alone may not be enough. Successful ERP initiatives require a bottom up approach as well.
Many organizations have lost sight of the fact that there is a difference between ERP education and ERP software training. End-user software training is very important, but it can be very different from understanding the original design intent of the system or the correct application of the software capabilities.
It goes without saying one of the primary goals when evaluating ERP software is to select the "best-fit" package. However, who is selecting the software or making the software recommendation, can have a major impact on end-user acceptance of any system.
It goes without saying one of the primary goals for ERP evaluation is to select the "best-fit" package. However, the person selecting the software or making the software recommendation, can have a major impact on end-user acceptance of any system. Allow the right people to perform initial ERP evaluations, ensuring better, faster adoption.
Let's face it. ERP is a multi-billion dollar industry dominated by software vendors and consulting firms. This is not going to change anytime soon since software is the necessity of any ERP implementation. But, for an employee within a company responsible for a project and an organization that must “live” with the outcomes, the question is: Who solely has your best interest in mind?
The needs of small manufacturing businesses and the SMB group in general, have received a lot of attention lately in the ERP media. The basic premise is smaller businesses are unique animals. Many in this category will be early adopters of software-as-a-service, but are their system functionality needs different from larger enterprises?
Most of the ERP literature today focuses on proper preparation, planning, and implementation of the system, and rightfully so. Nevertheless, sometimes the best way to avoid a train wreck is not to get on the train. In other words, do you really need a new ERP system and, if so, is now the right time to proceed?
Many software consulting firms love to sell their clients big expensive change management programs during an ERP or any other business software implementation. Probably next to “readiness assessments," change management is the mother-load of all "add on" work for the software consulting industry.
It is well known that selecting the wrong software package can doom an ERP, CRM or any other software implementation before it gets started. The good news is plenty of information, tools and resources are available to aid in the selection process. Nevertheless, a failure to manage the software demonstrations could result in buying a lousy package, even if you do all the other things right.
After an organization selects a new ERP system, in many cases the ERP software vendor is not the only firm available to provide implementation services. With that said, over the years I have observed certain attributes associated with different types of implementation service providers. Some good, and some not so good. Of course, any list of pros and cons for various types of consulting firms cannot be viewed as a set of hard and fast rules.
As an inexperienced project leader back in the 1980’s, I once informed an executive at a large aerospace manufacturer we are going "vanilla" with our enterprise software implementation. Absolutely NO software modifications or enhancements allowed I proudly proclaimed! His response stayed with me and still rings true today...
It is very common among ERP projects for consultants to make big promises to transfer software knowledge to their client. For example, we often hear the proverbial statement: “One of our goals is to work ourselves off the project, by teaching you the new system!” Yet once a project is over, many clients are clueless when it comes to making software configuration changes, and may even struggle with performing basic transactions in the system. So what gives?
Over the years rapid deployment methodologies have evolved to address the age-old problems: ERP projects can take too long and cost too much. In its purest sense, rapid deployment focuses on compressing the project timeline by employing several project management strategies. While at times these strategies should be used when managing any ERP project, it is the degree and emphasis placed on them that sets rapid deployment apart from the more traditional approach.
This is the first book to present comprehensive strategies and techniques that enable organizations to take charge of their ERP projects to drive success. The author describes how to become less dependent on outside consultants, significantly reduce implementation and support costs, mitigate project risks, and design business solutions that work for your company. This book also contains hundreds of tips to create internal project ownership, select ERP software, manage service providers, transfer software knowledge, develop the right implementation strategies, establish a realistic schedule and budget, and streamline business processes. It is a guide for making informed decisions during each project phase. The information is applicable to new implementations and system upgrades. The book is endorsed by R Ray Wang, Thomas F. Wallace, Jon Reed, and Andy Klee.
