Goal #4 in Selecting Your The Best Enterprise Resource Planning(ERP) System: Never Stop Learning!
The 10 Principles of Success
We continue to delve into the ERP Selection process with the 4th Goal for Success: Never Stop Learning!
The 10 Principles of Success are:
1. How You Think is Everything!
- Always be positive.
- Think success not failure.
- Be aware of a negative environment.
2. Decide on What Your True Goals Are!
- Write down what your specific goals are.
- Write down a plan/time line in how to obtain your goals.
3. Take Action!
- Goals/Plans are nothing without action.
- Don’t be afraid to get started – “Just Do It”, it doesn’t need to be perfect to start, nothing ever is!
4. Never Stop Learning!
- Get on-going training so use to better your organization.
5. Persistence and Hard Work Pay-off!
- Success is a marathon, not a sprint.
- Never give up on the goal/plan that you created in number 3 above, original or revised!
6. Learn How to Analyze the Details!
- Get all the facts/input you can – Learn from your mistakes.
7. Focus Your Time and Money!
- Don’t let other things and people distract you!
8. Don’t be Afraid to Innovate and Change – Be Different!
- Following the way that it’s always been done is a sure way to achieve nothing.
9. Communicate and Deal with People Effectively!
- Learn to understand what motivates the people you work with and what they need to be successful. No person is the organization or is indispensable.
10. Be Honest and Dependable!
- Take Responsibility – Otherwise 1 through 9 above won’t matter.
As a disclaimer, these 10 Principles of Success come from Investor’s Business Daily (IBD) newspaper aimed at helping stock market investors understand what good growth stocks to invest in, based on what the current overall market conditions are. EstesGroup believes that a company can apply these 10 Principles of Success to ERP systems; that is selecting, implementing and using them.
How does the 4th Principle of Success apply to:
Choosing the Right ERP System for Your Business?
Principle # 4: Never Stop Learning!
As you are going through the ERP selection process “Never Stop Learning” about each system you’re reviewing so you ultimately find the right one. Paying attention to the small details of each ERP system your company is thinking of purchasing to help you run your business will truly make the difference on making the right choice. So what’s does that specifically mean “Never Stop Learning”.
It means you need to ask the hard questions of each of the ERP developers you’re reviewing, so you truly learn what each system’s Pros and Cons are before it’s bought. Questions such as:
- What’s the cost of your annual Maintenance?
What’s Maintenance based on, modules purchased, users or both? - Learn in detail each module of the system your thinking about purchasing to make sure you really need it.
Request a detailed demonstration of each module the software developer says you need to learn and understand it. Take detail notes of the module that are being demonstrated as the developer is showing it to you. That will be valuable information to refer back to when you’re making your final decision, as well as when you implement it and use it. - Learn how the developer (or their partners) plans to implement their system into your environment.
This should be a detailed task list with realistic dates; that you and your implementation team understand! - Learn if any of the pieces/modules of the system you’re reviewing are developed by third parties. If so, how does this impact:
System updates
Maintenance
Training - Learn from each ERP developer what hardware/operating environment they’re software operates on.
On-Premise
Hosted
SaaS - Combination of all three above. Is this good or bad?
- What’s the best for your company?
Whether you are doing the review of ERP systems on your own or your working with a consulting organization to help you through the ERP system review process, you need to make sure you and your review team are engaged taking detailed notes as well as you’re truly learning from the software developers how their ERP systems are going to help your company through the “Best Practices” they’ve incorporated in their system, function better. If you don’t learn that detail through the review process, you most likely won’t learn that through the implementation and use phase of the system either.
EstesGroup understands what “Best Practices” of an ERP system are. The key of how to incorporate ERP “Best Practices” into your facility are related to what your company’s income streams are (i.e. Value Stream Scripts). If you’d like to learn more about what we mean by this and how it truly makes the difference in changing your company’s implementation/use of ERP, let us know, we can help!
We would love to talk with you and learn together what the next step is for you in your ERP ERP selection process. Pick up the phone and call 1 888 300 2340 and together we will:
