Your tribal organization just implemented a new ERP. How do you maximize the success of your investment?
- Implementing a new ERP is just the first step to getting the most value out of the investment.
- After your new ERP is live, you should take advantage of additional features you might not have set up right away, like AI, automation and integration with your other systems.
- Retain a support provider to help you take full advantage of your new ERP over time, including adding new or underutilized features into your processes and workflows.
A new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system can help your tribal government, business or organization operate more efficiently and effectively. But to get the most value from your ERP investment, you can’t just implement a shiny new ERP and then move on.
Instead, think of your ERP as a system that should evolve with your organization as you grow and requires ongoing support to deliver full value to your team after go-live. Keep reading to learn four steps that will help you maximize your return on your ERP investment.
1. Choose the right ERP support provider
You probably already see the value of working with an advisor or support provider when you first implement a new ERP. But that support shouldn’t stop after your ERP goes live. The most effective support providers will stay involved for years to come to help your team keep up with software updates, modernize workstreams and integrate your ERP with your other systems.
Key considerations here include:
- Plan early: You should be thinking about ongoing ERP support before your go-live date. If you understand your options as early as possible, you won’t be rushed into needing to make additional purchases to ensure support continues.
- Understand what each provider option offers: Get the specifics on what different support plan components are and what kind of relationship each provider is offering. Some support providers may only offer troubleshooting, while others give more comprehensive services.
- Select a support plan that includes upkeep: Look for a support provider that makes an ongoing effort to help you take advantage of more of your ERP’s features. A good provider will regularly evaluate your systems, processes and KPIs to help you figure out where you can get more value from your ERP, including any new upgrades or enhancements.
- Clarify your total costs: Both lower and higher cost ERP providers want to sell you ongoing support. However, lower-cost providers usually won’t include those costs in their initial implementation proposal, while higher-cost providers often will. Consider the total cost of ownership (implementation plus ongoing support) when weighing your options.
2. Keep up with your ERP’s evolving functionality and updates
A new ERP is packed with features and functions you can’t possibly take full advantage of right away. Think of it like a guitar: When you first take it home from the shop, you might know how to strum a few chords, but it takes time to learn how to play a full song.
Your support partner should help you learn to play songs. This includes regularly assessing your systems and processes to look for areas where you’re not using your ERP to maximum effect — and crucially, helping you keep up with the new features that most major ERP developers regularly release.
- Keep improving results over time: Getting more use out of new or underutilized existing features helps you maximize the value of your ERP subscription and means operational gains from your ERP will continue to get better over time.
- Don’t miss free updates: Many new feature releases are free, but ERP users frequently ignore them. Users may not know about a new feature or may be unsure of how it works.
- Designate an EPR point person: Ideally, you should have a point person inside your organization who is in regular contact with your support provider to discuss new or underutilized features you could benefit from implementing.
3. Lean into your ERP’s AI, automation and integration capabilities
Modern ERPs increasingly offer advanced capabilities around AI, automation and integrations with other systems. Leaning into all three will help you get more value from your ERP system.
For example, tribal CFOs should integrate other financial and operational systems whenever possible. Depending on your organization, this could include front-of-house solutions, grant management software, procurement or any other relevant systems.
- Look for cumbersome manual tasks you can automate: Integration, AI and automation can help you eliminate time-consuming data collection work. This gives your team more time to do analysis or other higher-value activities.
- Integrate both financial and statistical data: Implementing a new ERP will give you easier access to your financial data. But additional integrations can bring in valuable statistical data, like the number of guest checks at your restaurant, occupied rooms at your hotel or types of fishing licenses sold, which gives deeper context to your financials.
4. Reconsider your talent strategy in light of your new ERP
Finally, during your post-ERP-implementation support period, you should reconsider your talent strategy. You will likely need to hire for different roles than you’re used to and may need to adapt to appeal to the types of talent who typically fill them.
- Consider how automation affects your needs: Automation will likely significantly shift your organizational talent requirements. For example, do you still need to hire for data entry roles? Or should you now be recruiting more business analysts?
- Reassess your onboarding: Adjust your onboarding processes to account for your new ERP. For roles you may not have typically hired for in the past, you may need to develop your onboarding from scratch.
- Consider how to appeal to new role types: The kind of talent who can help you maximize the value of your ERP may have different expectations than you’re used to. You may need to adapt your policies and culture to compete for top talent, like adding remote work or more flexible time off opportunities.
How Wipfli can help
We help tribal organizations implement and maximize a new ERP system. Let’s talk about how a new ERP with ongoing support could help your organization operate more efficiently and effectively. Start a conversation.
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