Outsourcing ERP: Issues

Outsourcing ERP is often the most preferred means of ERP development and deployment and most widely followed tradition amongst corporates. But ERP outsourcing comes with its own incumbent issues and challenges. Since ERP software is often one of the most crucial applications in the company, most companies factor in these challenges that may present themselves as the ERP implantation process unfolds.

Here are some of the ERP outsourcing challenges faced and some ways in which they can be remedied:

• Building Synergy:
  The in-house employees of a company are more likely to see ERP consultants as intruders. It is important that healthy working relationships are built between the regular employees and the ERP consultants. This can be done by creating awareness amongst the employees on the importance and extent of cooperation needed from them. There should be transparency in project progress and duration so that they know exactly what to expect.
• Encouraging Change:
  Having someone breathing over your neck is one thing, but him trying to educate you how to do your job better is yet another. Business Process Re-engineering are sound good to executive ears, but tough to implement on production floor.
  Employees usually see ERP consultant suggestions as impractical advice and are more likely to take offence. This is often a big problem as such an environment is not conducive to change. To ensure a proper synergy, it is important the ERP consultant team is diplomatic in putting forward ideas without offending people. They should be flexible on agendas and more understanding of real-life problems.
• Self Reliance:
  The ERP vendor reliance is often addictive to companies. With the convenience of having ERP consultants around for long durations, a learning lethargy creeps in the employee mindset and they start depending on consulting for things they can very well do themselves. Hence it is important for the management to constantly monitor the pace of knowledge transfer taking place, especially during the penultimate stages of the project. In case of any delays, appropriate action must be taken to ensure that the employees take their responsibility seriously.

To learn more about the Enterprise Resourse Planning (ERP) Solutions custom software Solutions implemented by iSummation, please contact us. We are a specialized vendor based in India offering ERP consulting and custom web as well as desktop ERP implementation services.

Further Reading

Common Reasons for Outsourcing ERP

6 Steps to successful ERP implementation

Containing ERP costs

ERP software customization

How to avoid ERP failures