Assessing ERP Readiness

Determining an organization's ERP readiness for an ERP or large IT implementation is often one of the most difficult parts of moving forward with such a large undertaking. It is easy to get caught up in all the potential benefits of ERP and forget that there are some fundamental business issues to consider before proceeding. For example, to determine your organization's ERP business readiness, it is useful to ask the following questions:

• How standardized are your current business processes across the globe?
• Does your company currently have an internal organizational design, business process, and/or communications group?
• How much turmoil has your company faced in the last 3 years (e.g. layoffs, other large IT projects, management shakeups, etc.)?
• What level of executive sponsorship do you currently have in your organization?
• How many internal resources do you have committed to help with the project, including to address the business process aspects?
• Do you have a documented business case, assumptions, and ROI?
• Have you established project and business measures for success?
• Is your company culture conducive to accept such a large change initiative?
• Does your company operate as a single company across the globe, or more as a siloed group of organizations?
• Do you have a detailed budget, including line items for miscellaneous and unanticipated expenses?
• Most importantly, what is your motive for implementing ERP?

While your answers to these questions may vary, they will inevitably impact your level of project and business risk. They will also determine what additional mitigation efforts you may need to take. These are all factors that need to be considered as part of an overall ERP readiness assessment.

I am in the process of developing an ERP business readiness and risk assessment checklist. Check back here or on our web-site in the near future to take a look.