Why ERP consultants are chickens
In ERP implementations, involvement is OK; commitment is much better.
Stop us if you’ve heard this old business fable.
What’s the difference between a chicken and a pig in a bacon-and-egg-breakfast? One is involved and the other is committed.
The chicken, contributing an egg or two, is involved, but the pig, under contract to bring the bacon, is fully committed to “Project Breakfast”.
You’re free to insert your own punchline about having “skin in the game”, but what we really want to discuss is the level of involvement needed for an ERP implementation, and how, if you’ve hired an ERP consulting firm, you’re probably getting the chicken.
First, though, let’s be clear: It’s understandable why a business would want to hire an ERP consultant. ERP implementations are large financial investments and the technical details involved in finding the right solution are important and often highly complicated.
But you don’t want the chicken. The chicken-slash-ERP consultant will treat that software as a commodity — the proverbial egg in the above fable — and it isn’t a commodity. It’s a relationship.
A software implementation needs to account for all aspects of your business, from the initial systems review to mentoring management and staff after Go Live, in order to foster the sustainable behavioral change necessary for optimal productivity from the new system.
“They’ll be glad to take your money up front, define your business and create pretty graphs and workflow charts.”
The problem with ERP consultants — and we’ve written about them before — is that they “position themselves as unbiased. They’re not there for the follow-through,” says Jacques Decarie, Vice-President Sales and Marketing, IndustriOS.
Typically, the consulting firm takes an inventory of your needs and puts out a request for proposals to various large providers. Without any direct communication between the prospective providers and your company, the bids come in, with services being scaled down to ensure a winning price.
They then give you their “unbiased” (yes, those are sarcastic quotes) recommendation for who you should buy from, possibly — and this is where it gets really sketchy — even offering to lend money to your company so that you can afford to make the investment.
“They’ll be glad to take your money up front, define your business and create pretty graphs and workflow charts,” says Decarie. “It’s putting in a lot of money at the front end, and in most cases, taking away from budget needed after Go-Live.” Allocating the budget over the whole ERP implementation process is how to get more mileage out of your investment.
“We had been down that road and got burned.”
Scott Lovell, Operations Manager, SmithCo.
SmithCo, a manufacturer of side-dump trailers, was looking for an ERP system, but, more specifically, they were looking for a partnership. “We didn’t want a ‘software company,’” explained SmithCo Operations Manager Scott Lovell. “We had been down that road and got burned. We were looking for people who knew manufacturing, could help us identify our weaknesses, give us solutions and were willing to put boots on the ground for the implementation to be successful.”
That was music to Decarie’s ears. “The minute we heard they were looking for a relationship, we realized they had their hearts in the right place, knowing that we were going to be spending a lot of time together.”
And yes, Decarie freely admits that IndustriOS is, after over 20 years in the ERP game, biased. “We’re a software vendor, and as such, we have an educated opinion about where you should spend your money. But, as a biased source of information, I can tell you one thing: We’re going to be with you in the trenches, through thick and thin, until you succeed. We don’t succeed until you do.”
Or in other words, we’re not skimping on the bacon.
