RSM

The next step in the evolution of the ERP solution will be an increasing adoption of AI and robotic (RPA) technologies to ‘fill in’ the repetitive, but unavoidable gaps between or within systems. We are also witnessing early exploitation of blockchain technologies around particular cooperative processes (particularly supply chain) although integration through to ERP is less well established.

Emphasis on Business Change

The need to align closely with vanilla software switches the pressure of an ERP implementation from technology development for business change and adoption. More sophisticated and comprehensive approaches are needed to maximize adoption and minimize business disruption. Merely introducing a training approach may not be enough and may need to be accompanied by a defined communications plan, visible leadership alignment, business change agents, and other similar measures.

A common challenge is the agreement of standard and common processes across departments or subsidiaries, and avoidance of rebuilding a current solution. Businesses should lean on defined right practice processes and consider who will ultimately provide the design authority and approve the designs.

Finally, it is a mistake to consider Business Change as just a set of separate activities. The principles of change should run through the project structure, approach, and ethos. Clear accountability, ownership, and engagement of the business are critical to the success of an ERP project regardless of size and scale.

Strong Governance and Approach

Governance principles have coalesced over the last decade primarily in-line with industry standards such as Prince II. Successful delivery requires absolute transparency from the project manager on current and forecast status in order to escalate issues or blockers to the Steering Committee in a timely manner. Projects rarely go to plan, and having a mature understanding between the project manager and Steering Committee will help to navigate the waters of uncertainty, lack of commitment and indecision.

The traditional components of governance, such as clear team structure (and defined roles), scope change management process, RAID log, project plan, are well understood and should be in place. New tools, such as Google Docs or more latterly Microsoft Teams, are emerging for team collaboration and document sharing and ultimately make the team more efficient.

Increasingly companies are also more prepared to adopt a minimum viable product (MVP) approach for the implementation to avoid challenges of a never-ending scope. The benefit of this approach is that a business can reduce initial timescales, reduce risk of failure, and allow the solution to stabilize before commencing further project activities based on a sounder judgment on what changes are necessary.

Take a Wider View

Modern ERP implementations should be considered as business projects facilitated through the replacement of underlying technology. IT has an important role to play in support of these projects and typically has a good understanding of the end-to-end processes, and will play an important role across integrations and data tasks. The business needs to consider practical solutions and understand its commitment for successful delivering these projects.