Realising the benefits of your SAP Business One implementation requires understanding of critical success factors at the outset.
Define your business goals – A certain amount of planning and insight are required from senior management within your business to ensure the SAP Business One solution you put in place meets your unique business requirements.
You will need to define your business goals, and the problems that your business wishes to overcome with SAP Business One. The better your understanding of why your business needs to implement an ERP, the more likely it is that the information you provide to your chosen solution partner will help increase the success of your implementation. The detailed information you provide allows your solution partner to tailor your SAP Business One solution to your specific needs to help grow your business.
Set Priorities – The opportunities for improvement with SAP Business One are limitless however, in most cases you will be constrained by the resources you can dedicate to an implementation project, be that human resources, budget, time constraints etc. Thus, it is important to prioritise the goals you want to achieve now and the main problems you want to resolve through implementing SAP Business One.
Manage Change – preparation is key when undertaking a major change to your business processes such as implementing SAP Business One. Employees, customers and even suppliers should be aware of the change and how it will ultimately benefit the business and them.
Employee resistance or inertia can be a roadblock to the ERP solution being used to its full capacity and efficiently. End users need to ‘buy in’ to the new software. Senior management should communicate the benefits that the business will experience from the implementation of SAP Business One ERP in company meeting or an open discussion session with end users. Product training offered by the SAP Business One solution partner can assist in a quicker comprehension rate by staff and help alleviate anxiety about using the new software. Broad exposure to the new software system will help staff understand and take ownership over the use of the software.
Dedicate Resources – The cost of software, licenses, maintenance etc are only part of the true cost of implementing a new software solution. Success will often depend on the human resources you dedicate to the project. You will require someone within your organisation to act as a project manager; this person will need a deep understanding of your company, your business processes and the industry you operate in. The chosen person or people will often need to be focused on the implementation project right up until your implementation is in the go live phase. This means dedicating a substantial portion of their time.
Ensure Success – With the right solution partner to drive your SAP Business One implementation you mitigate any risk associated with implementing a new business software solution. The more you get involved at a strategic level, and dedicate adequate resources to underpin the implementation, the more likely it is that your IT strategy will well align with your business goals and ensure a highly successful ERP implementation.