Companies with complex business processes have come to rely on technology to automate, digitize and streamline operations. In many instances, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system – SAP, Oracle, JD Edwards, Microsoft Dynamics – has been implemented to provide this support. ERP systems were designed to automate and integrate disparate business processes.

When companies feel pain within internal processes or suffer operational interruptions, it’s often a direct result of a disconnect between the needs of operational processes and the technology systems that support them.

A key component in implementing an ERP system is a clearly defined set of objectives defining the desired outcome and project success. These objectives likely focus on addressing business pains and/or making processes more efficient.

If this is true for you, to what extent have you achieved those objectives?

Evaluating the original objectives for your ERP implementation, the current state of your process needs and the state of your implementation allows you to determine whether your implementation was successful and achieved the desired business results.

If success was not achieved, evaluation will allow you to identify problems arising from the implementation and demonstrate whether:
• Corporate processes are functioning as desired
• All intended components are operating as desired
• Process needs have grown beyond those originally defined and whether they’re supported by the current implementation

If problems exist, do you repair your ERP system and achieve return on investment, abandon it for an alternative system or live with the current situation?

For companies committed to following through with the initial investment, ERP remediation may be the answer. How do you know if remediation is right for you? Some business pains commonly afflicting companies with stalled, broken or underperforming ERP implementations are:
Business Process Issues
o Frustration acquiring data from departments outside general users
o Unnecessary workarounds
o Reliance on manual processes
o No process automation
o Broken process automation
o Process taking longer than usual
o Unable to perform some critical operation

Data Quality Issues
o Lacking data for important business decisions
o Data integration nonexistent
o Desired information is not available
o ERP processes and business operations misaligned

If your business is afflicted by any of those pains, your next step should be to discover which type of remediation is right for you. Whether it’s a stalled, broken or underperforming ERP implementation, each project is approached with a different strategy. The overall goal is to economically get business operations and technology back in sync quickly and effectively.