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9 Costly Mistakes Made by Outdoor Gear Store Owners When Selecting an ERP and How to Avoid Them
Business owners of outdoor gear stores face various challenges when selecting the most suitable Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) for their business operations. A wise selection of an ERP system is essential for business success, but often mistakes are made and costly consequences follow. Here we highlight nine of the most costly mistakes made when selecting an ERP and how to avoid them.
Qu'est-ce qu'un ERP ?
Mastering the art and science of selecting the right ERP requires understanding the nature of this business system. An ERP represents a comprehensive suite of integrated business software that facilitates data management and operations across an organisation. It is the ‘plumbing’ of a business’s systems, connecting them together in an enterprise-wide computer system that optimizes internal data flow and operations.
Mesure de la réussite de la sélection d'un ERP
The success of an ERP deployment is based on three main criteria:
- return on investment (ROI)
- time to value (TTV)
- total cost of ownership (TCO).
When selecting an ERP for your outdoor gear business, the expected ROI, TTV and TCO should be simple and clear. The ROI line item should indicate how many years will be needed to recover the total investment. The TTV line item should define how long it will take to begin enjoying benefits from the ERP investment. The TCO should be comprehensive including all costs, such as staff expenditure, consultation fees, software fees, implementation and maintenance fees.
5 erreurs courantes et solutions dans le choix d'un ERP
- Not Looking at the Big Picture: Analyzing and evaluating the current business environment to size the company in terms of structure, staffing and operations. Solutions: Map the current business performance, profile and processes. Analyze current technology used. Assess stakeholders’ requirements.
- Ignoring Business Growth: Not taking into consideration scalability and future development of the company’s software. Solutions: Test scalability of the proposed software package. Analyze the software’s ability to adapt to changing needs.
- Misunderstanding Customization Needs: Not taking into consideration if the software is fully configurable or if customization is needed. Solutions: Do a full analysis of all functional parts of the business. Decide if customization is necessary. Discuss customization specifics with the software provider.
- Overestimating Project Speed: Not taking into consideration the need for thorough research, set-up and configuration of the system prior to going live. Solutions: Clearly define the timeline of the whole process. Analyze the duration of the software development, configuration and training of the staff.
- Not Allocating Enough Resources: Under-estimating the resources needed to support the project. Solutions: Estimate staff resources needed for project management. Estimate budget. Estimate resources required for training and on-going support.
Tableau récapitulatif des erreurs et des solutions
| Erreur | Solution |
|---|---|
| Not Looking at the Big Picture: | Map the current performance, profile, processes. Analyze existing technology. Assess stakeholders’ requirements. |
| Ignoring Business Growth: | Test scalability of the software. Analyze its adaptability to changing needs. |
| Misunderstanding Customization Needs: | Analyze all functional parts. Decide if customization is needed. Discuss details with software provider. |
| Overestimating Project Speed: | Define timeline. Analyze duration of software development, configuration and training. |
| Not Allocating Enough Resources: | Estimate project management staff. Estimate budget. Estimate training and support resources. |
Conclusion
Selecting the right ERP system can often be challenging but it is important to take the time to review your business needs and the features of the software. Doing a thorough analysis and selecting the best fit ERP can save your business time and money. Avoiding the nine costly mistakes outlined here will increase the chances of making a successful ERP selection for your outdoor gear business.
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