ERP is among the most crucial investments organisations are looking after nowadays. It has become an integral part of the companies to unlock doors to success. But, ERP implementation is costly and time-consuming, requiring budgeting, planning, and more research. In the case of ERP software, some misplanning often leads to financial failure.
Also, the extra cost behind its implementation is a pressure point. Mostly, ERP implementation is overlooked by organisations. A lot of small-scale businesses are adopting customised ERP solutions in order to save the company time and money. But, in most cases, the predicted cost always exceeds which in turn creates a sort of pressure on the companies.
Sustaining the Cost- The Most Crucial Element
The most underviewed aspect of ERP implementation is its cost. In most cases, organisations don’t consider controlling and tracking ERP costs. Hence, businesses experience some change in their expected outputs. As per the implementation experts, the major reason for the over-costing of the ERP is the lack of knowledge.
Let us now see the extra costs of an ERP implementation-
Training Cost
Any business aiming to deploy ERP software mainly focuses on training its employees. However, without the right guidance and assistance, the employees might find it very hard to grasp and understand the system’s functioning. That is why investing in training activities is a must factor. But, few companies overlook the training cost since it’s quite difficult to calculate it precisely.
Also, when it comes to employees, they feel hard to adapt to the new solution since they have been working on the spreadsheets. For this reason, employees may need a number of training sessions to work with the ERP comfortably. So, it is natural that these extra sessions will also add up to your budget.
Data Conversion Cost
To keep business functions unhampered, it is essential for companies to shift the data completely to the latest system. No doubt, the data which has been collected for years acts as a major base with which the company grows. But one main thing is that humans cannot handle this massive data. Hence, companies must meet integrity, accuracy, completeness, and uniformity to migrate the data successfully.
Failing to meet this criteria makes the projects even more complicated with high costs and risks involved. In order to skip this expense, companies are required to create an extensive plan which would include everything about the technology, people, and processes.
Data Analysis
It is one of the critical aspects of the system which cannot be overlooked. ERP has the potential to look after almost every facet of the business including payroll, inventory management, financial management, accounting, etc. But it all depends what modules you select as per the business needs.
So, it is pretty possible that a particular amount of data may be situated outside of an ERP system. To make better decisions, you require to check the relation between the internal and external information. This is exactly where data analysis cost incurs. This expense is incurred whenever a company uses a combination of research methods and external applications to obtain better results.
Customisation Cost
Before developing ERP software for a company, the vendor takes all the customers’ details regarding what customisations must be done. But, even then, every system needs different customisations per the business’s changing needs. And this is not possible with traditional ERP systems. So, this also gets added to the budget, which again is a hidden cost. Also, if the company is expanding its operations, it becomes a laborious and expensive task.
Testing Cost
Testing is the fundamental operation that must be done right before an ERP system is launched in a company. In the absence of the testing phase, the chances of implementation failure surge and may result in crashing the software during its live process. Hence, the testing undergoes various sessions to deliver and develop an ERP software that would work great with the companies there. At first, a single transaction is performed, and later, multiple transactions are performed to check with the system.
Through these testing sessions, the vendor comes to know everything about the flaws so that they can be fixed immediately. This way, it undergoes repeated testing until it becomes the desired system the company needs. So, these repetitive processes add more to the company budget.
Employee Resistance
When we talk about business, ‘change’ is a constant thing since it becomes tough to transform without it. However, adapting to change is something employees find tough to accept.
ERP helps enhance digital transformation and minimises human efforts. But, there are a lot of organisations that undergo resistance from their employees. To face these obstacles, organisations are required to train their employees with more informative training sessions by the vendor itself. Also, the ERP specialist offers training to the team. This all leads to an increased implementation budget.
Unsatisfied Customers
An ERP with a broad variety of features cannot essentially fulfil every need of the businesses. And sometimes, companies find that ERP lacks somewhere, leading to their disappointment. Hence, at these points, the software needs some additions/removal of some features, which contributes to the unidentified costs for the company. Also, ERP requires timely maintenance as well. Without maintenance, the system doesn’t perform well and gives undesired outputs. This, in turn leaves the customers unsatisfied.
Travel
It is the last but equally important factor to consider during the ERP implementation. To deploy the software to the respective company, an expert is required to travel and visit companies and branches. In the case of long distances, you may ask to provide travelling allowances for the expert.
Down the Line
ERP is an avant-garde management software that helps companies boost their scalability and productivity. ERP implementation is one of the daunting tasks, and crucial one, therefore companies should consider its implementation and the costs it will incur beforehand.
Also, the implementation should be done keeping in mind its potential costs in the future.
From all the above points mentioned, it is clear that the ERP implementation cost is not fixed since it changes with the business requirements and other external factors.
Author Bio:-
Deepali Daiya is a communication expert who excels in understanding customer needs. She writes powerful sales scripts and articles with very high conversion rates. Currently, she is associated with Sage Software Solutions, a leading distributor of high-quality ERP system and CRM systems to small and mid-sized businesses in India.
Twitter Profile:- https://twitter.com/2021Deepali