At this point you have completed all of your research and you know that your company is ready for an ERP solution. You have already defined all of your business requirements and even selected your ideal solution to meet those needs. The only thing you have left to do is find an ERP partner that you can trust to carry out the implementation for your company. So what should you be looking for in an implementation partner?
You should be looking for a knowledgeable and experienced partner who has a deep understanding of your business needs who also has a strong technical support team. Your chosen partner should be willing to go above and beyond that and help you:
1. Map out the implementation process
An ideal ERP implementation partner will keep you informed from the very beginning of the project. They will map out the process for you with a complete business optimization process to ensure the alignment with a proposed business solution that addresses your business’ key challenges. This way, you know what to expect in the coming months without surprises. This seems simple enough, but not all partners keep you informed every step of the way. Yours should give you a solid blueprint of the implementation in the beginning and refer back to it throughout the process to keep them on track, keep you informed and to keep you confident that they can deliver on their promises.
2. Maximize the value of your chosen ERP application
You need an partner who will take the time to understand your business requirements. The more they understand, the more they can help you work towards your business goals and customize your solution to help you get the most out of your investment. For example, if your company is in need of mobile reports for your salesforce, an ideal partner would be able to design a custom, easy-to-use dashboard where you or your employees can easily access important customer information when engaging prospects. An implementation partner like this will be able to extend the value further by integrating the system to your existing process, such as eCommerce software for up-to-date customer orders.
3. Stay involved by offering open communication
This concludes our ERP Readiness blog series. In summary, the ERP blog series gave you the tools you need to guide you through the following business questions:
- Does my company need an ERP solution?
- If so, does my company have the IT resources available to research potential ERP solutions?
- How do I assess my company’s ERP readiness?
- Have I chosen the best solution for my business needs?
- Do I have the right ERP partner?
