{"id":633,"date":"2014-07-02T07:19:19","date_gmt":"2014-07-02T07:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/certusgrp.com\/?p=476"},"modified":"2022-08-28T13:49:59","modified_gmt":"2022-08-28T13:49:59","slug":"how-to-customize-your-erp-solution-or-not-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.certusgrp.com\/staging\/how-to-customize-your-erp-solution-or-not-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"How to decide if you should customize your ERP solution or not? Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As software consultants, we frequently hear our clients complaining during ERP solution implementation. Their major pain point seems to be the desire to get softwares to work the way they want it to and not the other way around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Majority of clients like to go in for software customizations so that tweak it to suit specific needs. Experienced hands know that customizing any ERP solution seems like a very good idea \u2013 at first. Users have a specific approach to their daily tasks, which they feel should be customized to make tasks easier. There are however many downsides to customizing any ERP solution, which we will discuss today.
\nOlder versions of ERP solutions and off-the-shelf ERP systems have sometimes been unable to cover all the possibilities as required by businesses. Costly customization was usually the solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, now-a-days reasons for customizing ERP solutions are varied and based on other causes. Here are some of the major causes of ERP customization that we frequently receive when consulting:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2022 Old habits die hard: The legacy system is often so deeply rooted in the minds and habits of users, that they are unable to contemplate other possible alternatives. There are other ways to achieve the same result of customization.
\n\u2022 Half baked Knowledge: Sometimes consultants working on projects are not adequately knowledgeable to suggest feasible solutions or workarounds by using the standard ERP solution without customization.
\n\u2022 Unclear Policies: There is no clear indication from the project team and company leadership about the \u201ccustomize or don\u2019t customize\u201d policy for software.
\n\u2022 Some specific requirements are so unique that they just cannot be satisfied in any other way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While we can concede for the last point, in the other three cases the decision should always be made after considering the following pros and cons carefully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pros of customizing your ERP solution:
\n\u2022 The end users feel more confident about the functionalities of the ERP system.
\n\u2022 User training can be easier as they feel at ease.
\n\u2022 There is a reduced change management effort.
\n\u2022 Some \u201ccustomer specific\u201d functionalities can be preserved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cons of customizing your ERP solution:
\n\u2022 Customization leads to a higher project cost.
\n\u2022 There is a higher maintenance cost to maintain such ERP Systems.
\n\u2022 The project duration lasts longer.
\n\u2022 The ERP software updates are much more difficult. Customized ERP software, especially when extensive, freezes the environment, making it difficult to update.
\n\u2022 Companies may miss out on opportunities in terms of technology upgrades.
\n\u2022 There is a marked increased in dependence from the consulting company even after go-live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stay tuned for Part 2 of \u201cHow to decide if you should customize your ERP solution or not?\u201d <\/a>where we will elaborate on this further by taking the examples of some of the most popular ERP solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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