Well, probably when every one is cutting cost, investing in a fresh ERP implementation may make the customer think twice. This is primarily because of the size of the initial investment required for such engagements on account of hardware, software and implementation cost.
Hence for an IT service provider, the challenge lies in guiding the customer to make the right amount of investment in a timely manner, so as to minimize the initial CAPEX requirements at these times of turbulence.
Here are some of the ways to my mind, which can be put in practice for proposing new engagements:
1. Partnering with stakeholdersLet us partner with the customer and create a close collaboration between customer, IT service provider and the OEMs to provide the customer the best price
2. Using out-of-box featuresCustomers should be encouraged to use the standard built in features of the ERP product to the greatest extent possible. Enhancements should be entertained for addressing only the business critical needs.
3. Customer driven designThe need of the hour is more emphasis on incorporating customer’s requirements and his wishlist at the very early stage and designing the solution along-with the customer. This will reduce the number of iterations and rework in the project life cycle. Extensive workshops with the customer on the product and design will help on this aspect.
To add to the above, another aspect which can be explored more can be to bring in more modularity in the solution. We need to work with the customer in identifying the core business needs that need attention on a priority basis and provide a solution on those areas only; however care should be taken to ensure for the future enhancements to be added to the core solution with ease later.
In summary, the impending recession has made customers more cost-conscious than never before; this is probably the right time to sell a limited functionality ERP in a big way. This concept may sell when corporates are trying to just sail through rather than expecting to make huge profits. Customers with basic business processes in place in an ERP framework will be equipped better to scale up in boom times through adding more functionalities.
