Getting the Best Value from ERP Accounting Software

When you’re looking to purchase ERP accounting software, a lot of thought has to go into the best value.  Every company is looking to improve the bottom line, and the right software can help reduce expenses, improve efficiency, and provide a company with more business intelligence about its own processes.  When combining accounting and ERP functions, proper implementation is vital to ensuring the best return on investment for your ERP accounting software.

Have an ERP Accounting Software Plan From the Start

There are so many ERP accounting software options available, and you can easily get lost in the muck and can end up making the incorrect decisions due to an information overload.  It is also wise to have a knowledgeable team leader directing this process and making sure management and the end users all have a say in the final decision of the ERP accounting software.  That way, implementation is smoother and quicker, and therefore less costly.

Another way to ensure value from ERP accounting software is to simply measure the results.  Make sure there are specific goals to be reached with the software implementation, and then measure to see if the results are what was expected.  Implementing ERP accounting software is a time consuming process, and measurements along the way make sure that the end point is reached without too many wrong turns.

Another incredibly important but often overlooked issue is what do your regular employees think about the changes in the ERP accounting system?  Strong management support of the process is important, as well as a talented and accessible consultant team.  However, if the rank and file do not understand the benefits, or do not like the changes, that needs to be handled.  Getting buy-in from across all parts of the organization improves employee morale, and gets everyone pulling in the same direction quickly and efficiently.

Not only is buy-in essential, but so is training in the new ERP accounting system.  You need to focus on training of the accounting team who will be using the software, as well as the downstream employees that will have inputs into the system and read the outputs from the system.  Inertia is a hard process to overcome, both in physics and in business.  Making changes without proper training will likely create employees that long for the old ways, and will not effectively adapt to the changes of the new ERP accounting software.

Finally, you need to make sure you look into the future as much as possible and make sure the accounting software can adapt to the changing needs of your company.  Implementation is expensive and time consuming, no matter how smooth.  Combine that with employee concerns with change, and it is not something a company would want to do more often than is necessary.

Change brings uncertainty and a sense of uneasiness, and  If you can manage a successful ERP accounting software implementation with the understanding that productivity may actually decrease in the short term, then the value from the ERP accounting software will be seen quickly.  Using the above mentioned tools, any organization making the move to a new enterprise accounting software system will see quicker and smoother full implementation, and the value to the organization will multiply.