That’s it! Management has finally given its approval for the acquisition of a brand new business management software. An ERP.
The great tool that won you over (we hope it’s Furious😉) should automate processes between different departments, save daily time, and thus, ultimately, money.
You are therefore preparing to migrate, and impatience is coupled with a slight anxiety:
How can you ensure that this strategic migration for the company goes as smoothly as possible?
Because we know the pressure and potential dangers this can represent, at Furious, we support our clients step by step, for as long as it takes.
And we can already list the 10 most common mistakes to avoid during a migration:
Forgetting to ask why you're changing tools
It might seem obvious when said like that, but it’s important to lay out the existing situation before initiating any change. Some of our clients start from almost scratch: a few Excel sheets and no real tools. Others are already familiar with single-task tools (CRM, project management) that don’t necessarily communicate with each other. Still others already have experience using a competitor’s ERP and are not satisfied with it.
In any case, an ERP being a transversal tool by definition, it is essential to gather the needs and constraints of the teams who will use it, but above all, to set the objectives for this migration. Have you identified the “pain points” you wish to address and defined an evaluation framework?
Not appointing a manager for this migration project
Changing the core operational tool of the company involves all employees.
The success of this internal project – which is highly strategic – requires a coordinator who will bridge the gap between the different departments and services.
Just as a project manager coordinates all individuals working towards its successful completion, an intermediary between the software teams and your own is a prerequisite for the success of your migration.
Not everyone can be in charge. This person will notably be responsible for establishing a schedule and ensuring it is adhered to.
Entrusting the project to an intern
…And this person in charge cannot be an intern. Just as you wouldn’t entrust your company’s largest budget and project to Corentin the intern, it seems obvious that entrusting them with the migration of the tool that will manage your entire activity is not the best course of action. Even if you think you’ll be the last one to use it (which is false, but that’s another topic!).
No matter how willing Corentin is, he has neither the experience nor the comprehensive understanding of the ins and outs of this project and the company. And probably not the necessary authority to impose a change either.
Not involving management
An ERP like Furious has a broad scope. It concerns and facilitates the work of operational staff, managers, back-office, etc. But that’s not all. Beyond operational management of projects and the company, it is also a powerful tool for steering your business effectively and anticipating strategic decisions. Steering implies a pilot, QED.
Management must therefore be both the driving force behind the change (who’s at the helm, shiver me timbers!?) and an active participant in it.
Not taking the opportunity to re-evaluate processes
A concrete example that everyone will understand: when you move, do you take the opportunity to sort, discard, and clean? An ERP change is the same thing.
It’s the perfect opportunity to rethink the organization, to take stock of what works and what burdens daily operations. In short, to review ERP processes, simplify and/or optimize them.
Thus, you will quickly find additional added value in this migration.
A good ERP will generally offer a structure that maximizes best practices.
Trying to reproduce exactly what you had in your previous tool(s)
Normally, if you “haven’t fallen into” pitfall #1, you’ll know how to avoid this one.
However, it can happen that despite a genuine desire for change, despite clear points of improvement and modification laid out, our natural tendency to gravitate towards what we know, what we master (even if sometimes it’s anything but logical) interferes with a smooth migration.
If you’ve been using Excel since your teenage years, chances are your new ERP won’t render your KPIs in quite the same way.
Furious is a recent ERP, and thus at the forefront of practices and technology. By nature, its philosophy is different from ERP tools developed in the 2000s. Our onboarding support will allow you to discover conveniences and optimizations you never would have suspected!
Entrusting the project solely to your finance team
An ERP is, of course, highly relevant to the finance department. Therefore, they have a say.
However, just as you don’t rely solely on them for the execution of agency projects or for the commercial management of your consulting firm, Michel the CFO and his team cannot be the sole decision-makers and actors in the choice and migration of your ERP.
Effective project management is central to Furious, and its comprehensive scope covers all departments of your company. The modules interconnect to allow you to manage, anticipate, and best steer your projects and the business.
Our experience shows that projects managed solely by finance teams do not always achieve the best team buy-in (unless, of course, that finance person is on the Executive Committee).
Wanting to achieve unanimity
If you’ve ever organized a company seminar, an end-of-year party, or simply a meal with colleagues, you know it’s impossible to fully satisfy everyone.
For an ERP, it’s the same. First, we’re talking about change. And humans don’t like change (neither do cats, by the way – useless but true info).
Depending on internal profiles, their personalities, and their struggles with current tools, you will encounter more or less resistance. Some will be extremely enthusiastic (and make good ambassadors), while others, on the contrary, will drag their heels.
This brings us back to points 2 and 3: a migration leader must be the driving force behind the change and have the necessary authority (hello point 4) to convince the most resistant ones 🙂
Not mapping your data / access rights / recovery process.
Let’s move from the psychological dimension of migration to the practical side.
Moving from one tool (or several tools) to another involves a significant data transfer: whether it’s project, client, employee, or financial information, but also who has access to what.
The migration manager must be able to retrieve all data, both from the current provider and from the managers.
For your information, all data within your Furious instance belongs to you. It can be exported at any time by authorized personnel within the company, without additional fees.
And as part of your migration to our tool, our teams will assist you with data import and help you configure and customize your Furious to the fullest. Always free of charge and with no time limit.
Do you have a clear idea of where your data is? Who should or should not access certain information? We very often have long hours of discussions with clients here to cross-reference this information.
Not imposing a migration schedule and methodology.
We’ve said it time and again: this is a strategic project for your company.
And every project requires a schedule, because “No wind favors him who has no destined port”.
Framing the migration within a schedule allows you to set the right timing objectives.
The methodology, meanwhile, is essential for its successful execution: at Furious, we offer our clients a clear and proven deployment plan. We obviously adapt it at each stage, but this optimizes implementation time. Our deployment time is also among the shortest on the market!
We hope these 10 tips will help you navigate the migration smoothly and serenely (yes, it’s possible, believe us!).
