5 Things That Go Wrong During ERP Implementations
Common Challenges to Avoid in Your ERP Implementation
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementations are massive endeavors that represent a significant organizational investment. All too often, I see the same pattern of issues arise on implementation projects. Some of these challenges can be avoided with proactive planning, while others present more complex risks that require thoughtful mitigation. Below, we’ll explore five common pitfalls that organizations should work to avoid throughout their ERP journey.
1. Lack of Training
Training should reach employees across the organization — from end users submitting purchasing requisitions or expense reports to power users supporting production operations. Since people learn in different ways, your training strategy should offer multiple learning modalities to accommodate varying preferences and roles.
Failing to provide adequate training can lead to significant issues and often contributes to the perception of a “failed” implementation, even if the system was technically configured and tested well. If users don’t understand how to complete transactions in the new system — and if internal support staff aren’t seen as knowledgeable — trust in the system quickly erodes. Regaining that trust is an uphill battle.
Do’s
Involve internal staff in hands-on training with your implementation partners throughout the project.
Offer user training in multiple formats prior to go-live (but not too far in advance). Continue training post go-live.
Integrate system training into onboarding for new employees.
Create and maintain user guides, cheat sheets, and checklists. Store them in a centralized, organized location (e.g., intranet, SharePoint).
Don’ts
Don’t go live if internal support staff aren’t sufficiently trained.
Don’t make users search through old emails for training materials.
Don’t give system access to untrained users.
Don’t rely solely on your implementation partner to plan and deliver training.
2. Conversion Errors
Every ERP implementation requires some level of data conversion — whether it’s metadata (employees, vendors, locations) or transactional data (ledger balances, open POs, unpaid invoices). Often, outdated legacy systems contain bad or inconsistent data, which creates a risk of carrying forward data problems into the new system.
Bringing over inaccurate or incomplete data can have long-term consequences, with data issues lingering for years after go-live.
Do’s
Perform thorough testing on all converted data — including downstream processes where the data is used or updated.
Invest in data cleansing to prevent known issues from migrating to the new system.
Consider how data will be used differently in the new system and adjust accordingly.
Don’ts
Don’t bring over bad data just because you lack time or resources to clean it — data remediation should be part of the project plan.
Don’t migrate to production without multiple test cycles and validation of the actual data being converted.
Don’t overlook your business process and data owners as key resources in validation. They know the data best.
3. Poor Project Management
If you’re familiar with formal project management methodologies (e.g., PMP), you’ll know there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Organizational structure, culture, and readiness all influence what works best. However, there are key fundamentals that should apply to any ERP project, regardless of methodology.
Do’s
Choose a project management approach aligned with your organization’s culture and maturity.
Implement formal change control procedures, including impact analysis and stakeholder approvals.
Track and actively manage issues and risks.
Identify key stakeholders early — both supporters and potential detractors — and engage them accordingly.
Establish clear success metrics that are understood by all parties.
Conduct a resource needs analysis and develop a detailed resource plan before execution.
Don’ts
Don’t assume the project is done at go-live. It’s done when you’ve met all success criteria — many of which can only be assessed post go-live.
Don’t select an ERP system before defining your project goals and business case.
Don’t allow last-minute configuration or process changes between your final testing cycle and go-live.
Don’t cut testing cycles or quality assurance just to hit a date.
4. Focusing Only on the Technology
ERP implementations often emphasize the technical aspects — software configuration, integrations, and security — at the expense of business transformation. This is a missed opportunity. ERP should improve how your organization operates, not just replace your systems.
Cloud ERP brings a unique challenge: you’re generally adapting your business to the software, rather than customizing the software to fit your legacy processes. This mindset shift requires more than technical readiness — it requires organizational alignment.
Do’s
Develop a change management strategy that addresses not just system changes, but organizational and people impacts.
Review and update policies and procedures as part of your implementation plan.
Align your communication and training strategies with policy changes and process updates.
Don’ts
Don’t accept “that’s how we’ve always done it” as a reason not to improve.
Don’t wait until just before go-live to communicate with users. Set expectations and promote benefits early and often.
5. Being Unprepared for Post-Go-Live Support
Go-live is just the start of your ERP journey. If you haven’t built a strong support structure, user adoption will falter — often for preventable reasons. In the early days of production, most issues are “how-to” questions. If users don’t get timely answers, trust in the system erodes and bad data starts accumulating quickly.
It’s tempting to roll off implementation partners immediately after go-live, but doing so before your internal teams are ready can create significant risk. The cost of fixing issues caused by insufficient support often outweighs the savings of cutting consulting hours.
Do’s
Set measurable criteria to assess whether your internal support team is ready to take ownership.
Plan for increased support demand during the first few months post go-live.
Involve your future support team in testing cycles so they gain hands-on experience before go-live.
Document common issues and resolutions during testing — they’ll be invaluable after go-live.
Don’ts
Don’t set support transition timelines based only on budget or arbitrary dates.
Don’t underestimate the support resources needed for evolving reporting and integration requirements.
Don’t neglect knowledge transfer — document, document, document.
Final Thoughts
ERP implementations are high-stakes projects with lasting impacts. By proactively addressing training, data quality, project management, organizational readiness, and post-go-live support, you dramatically improve your chances of delivering long-term value — not just checking a box on your project plan.
