ON THE WAY TO YOUR NEW ERP/CRM SOLUTION – DO YOU KNOW YOUR CRITICAL PATH?
One of the worst things that can happen to your organization in an ERP/CRM implementation project is rush. Since we all know what the potential impact of rush is on quality. But there’s something even worse: working with a business-critical system that is no longer fully supported by your vendor. So when you are planning to migrate your on-premise software solution to the cloud in the near future, it makes sense to start with good research.
Can you recall how much time it took your organization to select, contract, implement and finally deploy your current software solution? If this is not the case, it may be wise to find out. That will probably help you realize that these kinds of processes take a serious amount of time. For a small or medium-sized organization, this entire process can easily take one and a half to two years. Or more. Simply because your available capacities are limited. And you have a business to run.
First important question. If you were to start this process today, are you sure that your current solution can count on active support from your vendor throughout that whole period? Including complete security, solving bugs, the delivery of new versions and complying with all legislation and regulations that are relevant for you?
What if you don’t start today? But in 6 or 12 months? Has your vendor already confirmed this complete active support to you in writing?
Today, almost every ERP/CRM vendor is in the process of transforming their solutions from on-premise to the public cloud. And it is expected that many of them will start publishing end-of-support data for their on-premise solutions any time soon. That can of course influence your plans.
Second important question. Is your preferred implementation partner available to start this project when you are ready?
Apart from internal considerations, you also have to deal with external factors. Such as the capacity at your implementation partner to migrate your system. After all, with the large number of on-premise users who want to migrate to the cloud in the coming years, it is quite conceivable that waiting times will occur.
Conclusion: if you want to successfully migrate your on-premise software solutions to the cloud in the near future, you need to know what your critical path is. This all starts with good research. Make sure that you know how long your current solution will be supported. And consider the fact that your organization is not the only one who needs capacity.
