ERP Horror Stories in Time for Halloween
By Katie Foley
October is here and that means it’s time to get ready for Halloween! Halloween’s origins date back to ancient Celtic harvest festivals where people would dress in costumes to ward off ghosts. Since then, Halloween has evolved into a time for dressing in costume, eating lots of candy, trick or treating, and carving pumpkins.
So, what do Halloween and ERP have in common? Well, just like Halloween, ERP can be pretty spooky if you don’t watch out for some of the warning signs. Halloween is the perfect opportunity to discuss the frightful side of ERP. Read below for a couple of the most common ERP horrors to watch out for this fall season and beyond.
Hardware Malfunction
Is your ERP system running on old servers that are becoming more and more obsolete? Maybe they still work “just fine”, but you are putting yourself at risk for catastrophe to strike at any moment. Loss of hardware results in loss of productivity during downtime as well as potential loss of critical data.
When old servers fail, they are very hard to find a replacement for and also very expensive to replace even if available. Although installing new hardware seems like a big undertaking, if you are hosting an ERP system on-premise on very old hardware, it’s an investment worth making to avoid your ERP system crashing without any notice.
Implementation Failure
A failed ERP implementation is likely the primary fear for most going into an ERP project. An organization invests a lot of time and financial resources into an ERP project so the small risk that it may fail can be daunting.
Here are 10 of the Common Reasons ERP Implementations Fail to be Aware of:
- Not the right fit in ERP system to begin with.
- Lack of executive support.
- Inexperienced project leader.
- Inexperienced implementation consultant.
- Business processes not clearly defined.
- Unrealistic expectations.
- Too much software customization (as well as not enough customization).
- Resistance to change within the organization.
- Lack of resources.
- Lack of testing.
Conclusion
We think this spooky time of year is a great reminder of some of the risks that come along with both hosting an ERP system on old hardware as well as starting an ERP implementation project. If your organization is aware of some of the warning signs, hopefully these ERP disasters will be avoidable. If you’re on the lookout for a new ERP system, Visibility ERP may just be the perfect fit.
