Prepping your business properly for ERP implementation will require detailed planning, precise requirement gathering, and a properly defined roadmap. If not, it can cause several problems, like compatibility issues with the existing software platforms and hardware infrastructure, security issues, improper implementation cycles, and many more. That’s why you need a detailed plan that will help you prepare your business accurately so that the ERP software can be implemented without any hassle and won’t cause any further issues later on. 

Combined with the expertise of ERP development services and your technical and business knowledge, designing the implementation routine and data migration plan, and handling other preparatory tasks won’t be too difficult. To give you a brief overview, we have discussed here some key responsibilities you have in preparing your business properly for seamless ERP software implementation.

Step 1: Identify business needs and set clear objectives

When you hire ERP development services, it’s mandatory to have your business needs identified beforehand, both technical and functional. Following are some of the main areas that you should focus on to determine your business requirements accurately:

1. What are the third-party software systems you want to integrate with the ERP system?
2. What are the features you want to have developed that can cater to your business workflows?
3. What business processes do you plan to automate using the ERP?
4. How many users will have optimal data access on the ERP software?

Also, you need to clearly set the objectives that will be achieved using the ERP software after implementation. For instance, you can define the key performance indicators that will be further used to assess the software’s performance and the process efficiency coefficients. You also need to define the business processes that are meant to be streamlined using the ERP system. 

Step 2: Form a cross-functional team

Your project team should consist of members from different functional and technical areas, like Human Resource, accounting and finance, security management, operations, and sales based on the usage of the ERP software after implementation. Apart from these, you also need to augment an IT team that will look over the technical aspects of the project along with a project manager for efficient progress. 

Step 3: Assess your business’s current processes

1. Process mapping: You should prepare a detailed document about the existing business processes and mark the areas that need further improvements. This can help you to design an ERP software that will cater to these processes and help improve their efficiencies. 
2. Gap identification: Another major task you will have is to identify the bottlenecks, redundancies, and inefficiencies that are present in the existing business processes. It will give you better visibility into the functional workflows and underlying technical architecture so that you can modify the ERP software accordingly and bridge any requirement gap. 

Step 4: Choose the right ERP system

Finding the right ERP system is quite cumbersome and if not done carefully, you may encounter a myriad of problems after its implementation. So, together with the ERP development services, you should carefully consider these below factors to find the most feasible software that can generate tangible results for your business in the long run. 

1. You already have the process map and business objectives prepared beforehand. Hence, you can use the documents to choose the right ERP vendor for off-the-shelf software or select a custom-developed ERP software that will fit your company size, cater to the industry requirements, and adhere to the specific functional and technical requirements. 
2. It’s better to choose an ERP software that can be further scaled to accommodate new features and your business’s growing needs. 
3. Also, you should check the potential integration abilities of the chosen ERP software and ensure they adhere to your business’s existing technical infrastructure.

Step 5: Prepare all your business data

You should prepare a detailed data migration plan so that all the datasets can be seamlessly transferred from the redundant legacy systems to the newly implemented ERP software. From data sourcing to data cleansing, there will be several tasks involved before you can finally migrate the datasets from one system to another. Also, you should prepare data backups so that you can recover everything in case there is any issue with the migration process. 

Step 6: Prepare a change management plan

Since the implementation of the ERP system will bring a huge change to your business, you must involve all the stakeholders early on during the project conceptualization. This way, you can easily avoid any conflicts later on and eliminate unnecessary delays in the project. You probably have to explain the benefits of implementing the ERP software and convince your stakeholders about technology adoption. Also, it’s better to set proper communication channels so that there won’t be any data siloes or lack of visibility in your future business goals and objectives to be achieved using the ERP software. 

Step 7: Establish a clear timeline and budget

Before you hire the ERP development services, decide on the delivery timeline so that you can align the implementation project with your future marketing plans and sales operations. This would help you prevent unnecessary business disruptions as you may have to take down the existing software tools during integration with the newly implemented ERP software. Additionally, you also need to decide the budget plan, segregating the initial upfront costs of development and implementation and specifying the ongoing costs like licensing fees and maintenance expenses. 

Step 8: Perform beta testing before rollout

Before the final rollout, you should perform a thorough beta testing of the implemented ERP software. This will help you identify the gaps and fix the bugs that might cause business disruption if carried on to the live environment. 

Step 9: Prepare for post-implementation monitoring and support

Last but not least, you should be prepared to monitor the ERP system after its successful implementation and carry on the necessary tasks, like deploying data and security patches, optimizing performance, and upgrading the systems accordingly. You could also leverage third-party ERP development services for their constant support to keep the newly implemented ERP software up and running with optimal performance delivery. 

Conclusion 

Since here we have illustrated the key points necessary to be considered to implement the ERP system at your business core, you should get started with the prep work at the earliest. However, you should hire reliable and credible ERP development services to ensure their market knowledge and technical prowess can help bridge the gaps in the implementation plans and add more value to your business.