So, you’ve decided to upgrade your enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Where do you start?
Some businesses only need help setting up their software, and some ERP implementation partners will do just that – without involving themselves in process improvement or deep-dive consulting and learning about what you do and who you are. Let’s be honest - most businesses need more than that.
When you’re searching for an ERP partner, it’s essential to ask the right questions to make sure they offer the support and guidance you need. Small- and midsized businesses (SMBs) can benefit from thorough, long-term partnerships. Such partnerships enable them to focus on their day-to-day while retaining optimal solutions and processes.
We want SMBs to be able to make the most informed decision when selecting an ERP partner. The decision is often more consequential than people realize. If you don’t know what to expect from an ERP implementation partner, you may end up settling for less than you need.
What is an ERP Partner?
An ERP implementation partner consults with businesses to identify the best ERP solution, configurations, and customizations to support their current operations and future goals. The partner then works with a company to migrate or implement the system, providing support and guidance. They work to understand your business processes so they can design a solution that maps to it.
“Implementing an ERP solution is what we're supposed to be doing at the very minimum,” says Rob Thomas, Presales Solution Architect at Enavate. “What we end up doing is also being business process experts. We help improve their existing business processes and recommend better ways to gain efficiencies in their system implementations.”
That’s the core objective when Enavate works with clients to implement an ERP solution: To improve their business. Enavate’s ERP Implementation Experts need to improve our clients’ lives by helping streamline their processes, with ERP as the tool to get that done. We do this with our expertise both in the industry and standard business practices to help bring their business inefficiencies to light.
Selecting an ERP partner that looks at your business holistically and cares deeply about identifying the most ideal, effective solution will magnify the benefits and ROI you experience post-implementation.
With our ERP expertise, we assist you with the serious subject matter in building the bigger picture – which might not be apparent to a business struggling to meet daily demands.
What to Expect from a Great ERP Implementation Partner
It’s not a myth. Partners that focus on your overall business apply their wealth of industry and solution knowledge, provide training and change management to smooth the transition, and are available to your post-implementation do exist.
At Enavate, the role of an ERP implementation partner is defined as part of your team who:
Aims to improve your overall business with ERP as a tool
A great partner is not a “yes man.” They won’t just implement and configure your software, no questions asked, especially if they know a better way of streamlining the process. A great partner reviews your current system and ensures the business’s wants and needs align with your goals.
- They will make sure every decision leads to business improvement and sets you up for success.
- They will see your wins as their own. And they know how to design a solution and configuration that will produce the greatest outcomes.
- They will assess your business as it is and as you wish it to be, and they will use their industry and business expertise to map your journey to your desired state – and set you up for your next goal.
Takes a broad, industry-informed view of your business
You’re busy keeping your business on the path to success, profit, and growth. Your ERP is instrumental on this path, and implementing a new, more fitting solution can transform the journey altogether. You don’t want to risk transforming the journey to a more treacherous path with the wrong implementation.
An ERP partner can look at your overall business and identify the solution configurations that will have the greatest impact. This is their day-to-day wheelhouse, just as your business is yours. ERP partners can analyze potential configurations more efficiently than you could in-house. They already have a pulse on the solutions and the industry and can suggest designs and offerings that may not even be on your radar.
Without a true partner to consult with, your view may be limited and rooted in how you’ve always operated. That’s what you know best. A true partner will challenge you in the delivery process and ask, “Why are you really doing it this way?”. If the answer is “That’s how we’ve always done it,” then there is probably a more efficient and straightforward way that your ERP Implementation partner can help you discover.
Challenging business leaders to think beyond what they know is a cornerstone benefit great ERP implementation partners provide.
Another common phrase partners hear is: Doesn’t everybody do it this way? Your partner can be pivotal in ensuring you don’t make the wrong choice based on misleading information.
“The fact that we have experience across many different organizations gives us a broader view of what other people do,” says Carolyn Newell-Robbins, Sales Solution Architect at Enavate. A true partner knows what’s actually happening in your industry, how “everybody does it,” and whether that would work for you.
Treats the engagement like a relationship, not just a contract
Great partners build trust and relationships with clients, so they’re operating from a place of mutual respect. They have the client’s best interest at heart, and clients can rest assured that any recommendation is for the betterment of their business and operations – not the lining of a partner’s pocket. These partners are in it for the long haul.
“We want a long-term relationship with our clients. Three years from now, we want you to still be contacting us saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got a new business process.’ We want to be the partner that helps you get there, not just get the software in and ignore you afterwards.” - Rob Thomas, Presales Solution Architect, Enavate
If you have a long-term partner, you won’t be starting from square one when you need to adapt your ERP. What you need from your technology stack will likely shift with time. For example, a business may need to implement a new warehouse management solution as its operation grows or changes. Or there may be an acquisition, and the client needs a consultation on how to conduct a successful integration.
“If they want to reevaluate their implementation because their business processes have changed or there’s been a change in their market, we will do that in the future,” Thomas says. “The way we implemented the software may not be ideal now because businesses grow, businesses change. We want them to come to us to say, ‘How do we get the software to meet our new challenges?’”
Collaborates with you
Great partners hold clients accountable both during and after the implementation process. They take a collaborative approach to implementation, with the responsibility shared between them and the client. This is critical to a successful implementation with optimal outcomes.
Why?
Each party has responsibilities because each brings specialized knowledge, capabilities, and influence. You understand your unique business, culture, and goals; your partner understands best practices and has the industry knowledge to help you best implement and use your ERP solution.
We focus our methodology on equal collaboration and giving you the fastest and greatest return on investment possible.
Helps reduce risks associated with ERP implementation
An ERP implementation can be disruptive even under the best of circumstances. A partner can help you navigate major changes to minimize disruption and risks. Moving to an ERP is not just asking employees to learn new software; we understand it is bigger than that. You are asking them to change how they do their day-to-day jobs, and the entire business process itself might change with it.
You want to ensure your partner can help you through change and that business doesn’t stop. ERP gets a bad reputation when people hear stories of businesses that go live with a new ERP and immediately can’t ship a product because the software won’t let you print a shipping label. ERP can stop business when not implemented correctly or when support stops the minute it goes live. A true partner cannot let that happen. A true partner knows what they need to do to prevent the worst from happening.
What does this look like? Essential risk-reduction tactics include:
- Testing Programs
- Training
- Change Management
- Go-live Support
There are components that automated testing can be helpful for, but at the end of the day, partners are working with human beings that need to learn how to do their jobs differently. Your employees need to test and practice their new processes before the ERP goes live. We’ll ensure the software is functioning correctly in the testing phase, but it’s all about the people.
And, of course, configures and implements the ERP
Amidst all these responsibilities is the implementation itself. Your ERP partner will:
- Assess your current systems to help identify the best solution.
- Create a roadmap for how the implementation or migration of all components will occur.
- Design any necessary customizations.
- Configure the software and system integrations.
- Securely execute data migration.
- Test.
- Deploy.
What Do You Need from Your ERP Partner?
Now that you know what an ERP partner can do, what strikes you as critical to your own business in terms of this relationship?
Do you have the in-house expertise to carry the load on your own? Do you want a partner that will set you up and let you be? Wouldn’t you benefit from the value a true partner can provide: process, experience, and relationships?
Enavate has deep expertise from conducting many ERP implementations. Our ERP team is made up of senior, long-tenured professionals. Our support and technical teams are capable and experienced professionals who have superb relationships with our vendors.
Plus, to us, it’s personal. We are invested in each client’s success and longevity.
We don’t ever go away. That’s the intent. When we say partner, we mean it. We help our clients for life, helping after they’re live on the new software. We’re helping as the business evolves and changes – because business changes, that’s the nature of the world. We want to be here as their business partner when they need us.
Does Enavate sound like the kind of partner you’re looking for? If so, contact us to learn how working with us means being in a strong, valuable, and collaborative partnership.
