ERP Readiness Assessment Checklist
An ERP Readiness Assessment Checklist is a helpful tool for organizations that are unsure whether the time is right to adopt their first Enterprise Resource Planning system. A few of the common challenges we are hearing that are prompting organizations to reach out to us as they assess their ERP readiness include needing to
- Improve productivity
- Lower overhead costs
- Keep up with business growth
- Better manage business complexity
- Have insight to the status of business across multiple locations and organizations
- Adhere to regulatory compliance requirements
- Achieve better traceability in order to respond effectively to product recalls and other issues
Organizations that request an ERP readiness assessment checklist are usually also dealing with the pain of entering the same data into multiple systems and spreadsheets. They may have CRM, e-commerce web stores, POS systems and other business applications that are not integrated with a central back end system like an ERP. As a result of double and triple data-entry, employees spend part of their day dealing with the outcome of data entry mistakes, and those mistakes end up creating unhappiness with customers.
In an environment where there is no workflow rules to automate the flow of communication, communication breakdown occurs between departments as important order, customer, shipment and schedule information is being conveyed manually from employee to employee. Organizations may realize that their business cycles take much longer than they should, which elevates their costs in staff time and resources, and delays fulfillment to customers.
If these pains sound familiar, then consulting an ERP readiness assessment checklist is the next step.
ERP Readiness Assessment Checklist
The checklist below is based on our experiences with clients and helping them decide the best timing for adopting their first ERP. We have found that clients facing these scenario are able to afford the investment of time and resources in a larger business system while seeing a consistent and healthy return on their investments in the new software.
- Annual gross revenue is $2 million or more.
- Employee count has grown to 20 or more, although depending on the nature of the business this can vary.
- The organization is experiencing at least three of the following problems:
- Accounting software and spreadsheets are not providing the level of information the team needs for effective decision-making.
- Serious inventory issues are impacting order fulfillment.
- Collaboration is difficult.
- Communication between departments frequently breaks down; important information is not being shared or gets overlooked.
- Business cycles are taking longer than they should.
- There is a growing number of dissatisfied customers.
- They experience a high number of data entry errors due to double data-entry.
- Employees are bogged down in manual processes.
- Frustration is high and employee turnover has become an issue.
Obviously, moving to an ERP system is a big step. Common concerns for organizations that are considering their ERP readiness include the affordability of a new system and the level of difficulty involved in the implementation. Specifically, the challenges that hold them back include the worry of successful data migration and being able to provide enough training to their team. Organizations are also concerned about buying the right system to meet their needs.
For more than twenty years, members of the Trek Global team have been helping companies just like yours take that next step from an accounting solution to a robust, integrated and affordable ERP. We provide an array of technology and consulting services to support an organization from the ERP planning phase through selection, implementation, data conversion, training, go live and beyond. Learn more about our ERP consulting services