Costs Consumers Overlook

Overlooking the Cost- Some cost of an implemented ERP system are commonly overlooked or understated, commonly overlooked costs include training, customization, data conversion, data analysis, consultants and infintium, replacement of your best and brightest, the implamation team that never stops, and waiting for ROI and past-ERP depression.

Training- Training expenses are high because employees must learn a new set of processes. To make matters worse, you may not be able to find an outside company that can help you. Ultimately is up to your IT and business people to provide training. The cost of training may be triple of what you expected, but it will be well worth the investment.

Integrating/Add-ons- Testing likes between ERP packages and corporate software links which must be built on a case-by-case basis is another cost underestimated. You may be better off buying add-ons from ERP vendors that are pre-integrated. Though add-ons are expensive, customization is much more costly. It is best to avoid customization of the ERP software. A customization can affect every module of the ERP system because they are all tightly linked together. To avoid fatal mistakes, you may have to hire and keep extra staffers to do customization work and maintain it.

Data Conversion- Just another overlooked cost. Some companies must move corporate information. It costs to move information, such as; Customer supplier records, product design data, and the links from old systems to new ERP homes. Users requiring heavy analysis should include cost of data warehouse in ERP budget. Because data analysis can be troubling, one may choose custom programming. Custom programming is expensive, but may be well worth the price.

Replacing the Best- You may be forces to replace your best workers. Though the ERP market is not as popular as it once was, consultancies and other companies may be hounding your employees with promises of higher salaries and bonus offers. You may have to compete with the other company's wages or hire someone new. Implementers are valuable because they know a sufficient amount of information on the sales manufacturing process. Most companies cannot afford to send their project people back into business because there is enough work to last over a year once the ERP software is installed.