ERP implementation is significant for your business growth.
But sometimes it also becomes the bane of existence for business owners.
Its sole purpose is to improve the business operations and processes for you and your team.
However, the implementation process itself can be complex and challenging.
Why?
ERP implementation requires a deep understanding of how different departments operate.
It needs transparency about the data flow between all the systems.
If the stakeholders and implementation team lack a thorough business analysis and planning, the implementation project can come crashing down.
You might have to come face to face with ERP implementation challenges.
But we know no business owner wants an operational disruption and a failed implementation.
So, how can you and your implementation partner avoid this?
We’ll answer all your worrisome questions in this blog, including the major ERP implementation challenges and how to avoid them.
But first, you and your team need to understand what an ERP is and how it works.
What is an ERP?
ERP system is a software designed to support multiple business functions.
Your business might need stock tracking, warehousing, bookkeeping, production planning, restaurant management, or any other process.
You name it, and an ERP system will improve any and every business process tenfold.
What do you get from it?
Real-time information that is faster and more accurate.
What is an ERP implementation?
ERP implementation is quite literally the backbone of modern businesses.
Your finance, HR, supply chain, project manager, and almost every key function is tied to the ERP.
ERP implementation takes you on a complete journey following some key stages:
- Project Planning
The first step is to develop a detailed project plan outlining modules, timelines, milestones, and resource allocation.
- Personalization Requirements
The second step is to assess your current operations and identify core business needs and areas for improvement.
- Setup & Configuration
After that, your ERP partner can customize NetSuite to fit your specific business requirements through configuration and personalization.
- Data Migration
The next step is to migrate data from the legacy systems to NetSuite while maintaining data integrity.
- System Integration
After migration, your NetSuite ERP is connected with existing systems (optional) and third-party applications for seamless data flow.
- Training and User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
You can also benefit from comprehensive training and handholding during UAT to ensure user proficiency and satisfaction.
- Cutover & Go-Live
Lastly, ERP like NetSuite is launched smoothly with minimal disruption to your operations.
- Ongoing Support
You get continuous post-implementation support to make the ERP system run and scale with your growth.
Why is implementing an ERP system a complex process?
According to Gartner, more than 70% of businesses derail during ERP implementation for the first time.
It means one in every two businesses faces ERP implementation challenges.
We know integrating multiple business processes in a unified platform comes with its roadblocks.
Getting users and functional groups to change their ways is the biggest challenge that implementation teams come across.
To overcome this challenge of user adoption, our committed NetSuite team provides training up to the point where teams get used to the ERP.
Other than that, NetSuite implementation partners also offer support services to businesses that are new to this.
Common implementation challenges in ERP
After analyzing many of our projects and customer feedback, we have gathered the following challenges of ERP implementation that many businesses come across:
- Unclear goals and objectives.
- Choosing incorrect technology.
- Employee engagement challenges.
- Complex data migration and integration.
- Lack of testing and validation.
- Choosing between standard and customized ERP.
- Resistance to change.
- Lack of strong leadership.
- Failure of continuous monitoring and evaluation.
What causes ERP implementation to fail?
Many factors contribute to the failure of an ERP implementation project.
But the following ones take the cake.
Lack of data
- Organizations frequently fail to grasp the true complexity of their existing data ecosystem before beginning ERP implementation.
- Unclear ownership of data quality creates accountability gaps that lead to inconsistent data standards across departments.
- Poor planning for how legacy data will map to new ERP structures results in critical information loss during migration.
- Duplicates, inconsistent formats, and outdated information corrupts the new system from day one.
- Rushing data migration before thorough validation creates compounding errors that undermine trust in the new system.
Unrealistic timelines
- Companies consistently underestimate the true complexity of integrating multiple legacy systems, creating implementation schedules that are impossible to meet.
- Unrealistic deadlines create excessive pressure on implementation teams, leading to burnout, turnover, and loss of project knowledge.
- Rush implementations leave insufficient time for proper employee training, resulting in poor adoption and resistance to the new system.
Budget problems
- ERP projects derail when businesses continually add unplanned features and capabilities, creating unpredictable cost escalations that exceed financial resources.
- Implementation budgets frequently fail to account for the hidden costs of employees balancing regular duties with ERP responsibilities, leading to productivity losses and extended timelines.
- Initial budgets often focus exclusively on software and implementation costs while neglecting ongoing maintenance, support, and upgrade expenses that determine long-term viability.
- Unrealistic expectations about how quickly ROI will materialize create financial pressure that forces premature system launches before the ERP is fully operational and stable.
Unreliable leadership
- Without visible and consistent support from top executives, project managers lack the authority to enforce critical decisions across departmental boundaries, creating implementation bottlenecks.
- Leadership that fails to articulate a compelling vision for the ERP project leaves employees questioning its purpose and reluctant to embrace the significant changes to their daily work.
- Leaders who disappear after project kickoff but reappear only when problems arise create a crisis-driven implementation environment that undermines methodical planning and execution.
Poor employee training
- Companies mistakenly view the go-live date as the finish line rather than the starting point for employees who must integrate complex new systems into their daily workflows.
- Inadequate training creates frustrated users who revert to inefficient workarounds that undermine the core benefits and ROI of the ERP investment.
- One-time training sessions fail to address the continuous learning curve employees face as they encounter increasingly complex scenarios in the new system.
- Organizations underestimate the critical need for accessible technical support during the early adoption phase when users face the steepest learning challenges.
Poor pre-go-live testing
- Organizations that rush testing phases before launching their ERP systems inevitably discover critical functional gaps only after implementation when fixes become exponentially more expensive and disruptive.
- Inadequate process validation during pre-launch phases leaves businesses operating with workflows that don’t match operational realities, forcing employees to create risky workarounds.
- Companies that neglect user adoption and testing miss the opportunity to identify and address usability issues that become major adoption barriers after launch.
Lack of resources
- Organizations consistently underestimate the intensive human capital requirements of ERP projects, failing to account for team members needing to dedicate at least 50% of their time to implementation for months or years.
- Implementation teams stretched between regular business operations and ERP responsibilities inevitably prioritize urgent daily tasks over important project milestones, creating cascading delays.
- Staff turnover during lengthy implementations creates critical knowledge gaps and discontinuity that derail project progress and compromise system design integrity.
- Companies that fail to adjust workloads or hire supplemental staff during implementation force employees to work unsustainable hours, leading to burnout, shortcuts, and quality compromises.
- Inadequate resource planning for staggered training requirements across different departments creates bottlenecks where some teams become implementation roadblocks while waiting for proper system education.
How to mitigate ERP challenges?
Your mind must be spiraling after reading all these challenges and hurdles.
But overcoming these challenges is part of the journey. Right?
Don’t fret, because we are also going to share some tips with you that will help you minimize the failure risk and mitigate any ongoing challenges during ERP implementation.
Conclusion
We hope that by the end of this blog, we were able to shoo away some of your worries.
ERP implementation might become costly.
But only if you don’t show some due diligence and rush into the implementation project.
Good things always take time.
The bottom line is you need to do some groundwork on your part.
Share the business analysis with the implementation partner.
And stay involved throughout the implementation journey.
Don’t forget to ask the implementation partner for user adoption and training programs so ERPs like NetSuite can become easier to use for your teams.
If you need an ERP implementation for your business, our team of experts can surely guide you.
The silver lining is we offer continuous support, training and help with user adoption.
So, your implementation project becomes a dream come true for your business rather than a nightmare.
For any further queries, you can reach out to us or send an email here: [email protected].
