7 ERP Implementation Success Stories (& What We Can Learn)
Teamwork Makes the ERP Dream Work: Successful ERP implementations were driven by strong leadership teams that actively participated in the process.
Plan Your Way to Success: A realistic and well-thought-out implementation plan was a key common factor in successful ERP deployments.
ERP Failures Are Pricey: Failing to implement ERP systems effectively can cost companies significant time, energy, and money.
You Don't Need To Be Original: You can ensure your business's success by adopting best practices and strategies from successful ERP implementations.
The way you implement enterprise resource planning (ERP) software makes a world of difference in how effective it is for your finance processes. After answering reader questions on best practices, I decided to find the most notable ERP implementation success stories, to see what they had in common.
As I cover the companies that successfully implemented an ERP, you’ll notice some patterns. For example, the success of multiple companies on the list was:
- Driven by the presence of a strong team of leaders, who
- Actively participated in the implementation,
- Working off a realistic implementation plan
You can borrow ideas from their playbooks to ensure your business’s ERP implementation goes off without a hitch.
Why ERP Implementations Matter
ERP systems are fantastic, but implementations can fail. When they do, they cost the company time, energy, and more than a little bit of money.
Mission Produce is a global avocado supplier that sells ripe avocados year-round. In 2021, Mission Produce faced significant challenges sticking to its mission of delivering scrumptious fruit (yes, avocados are fruit). The reason? A failed ERP implementation.
This cost the company its reputation and $3.8 million, which was paid to a consultant to sort out the ERP system.
1. Fulton & Roark
Fulton & Roark used to rely on spreadsheets to track inventory, and Sage Live for accounting. Co-founders Kevin Keller and Allen Shafer realized these systems couldn’t support their double-digit year-on-year sales growth — I know, a great problem to have.
Here’s why: Spreadsheets lacked the ability to account for changing inventory costs, while Sage was missing workflows to record the cost of goods sold (COGS). This led to a lot of manual data entry and lower confidence in data accuracy.
To fix this, the co-founders decided to centralize the data and workflows with NetSuite ERP. Just three weeks post-implementation, the co-founders saw significant improvement in the following areas:
- Bookkeeping: They were able to catch inventory-related data entry mistakes faster.
- Accounting: The company was able to manage accounting tasks without relying on external accountants.
- Cost control: The company was able to increase sales by roughly 50% year-on-year without increasing headcount.
- Finance: The co-founders had greater visibility over margins and inventory.
Reasons for Success
Commitment from management to implement the ERP project was critical in Fulton & Roark’s case. Moreover, the co-founders taking initiative and actively participating in implementing the ERP encouraged employee buy-in, contributing to the project’s success.
2. N&N Moving Supplies
N&N Moving Supplies is a family-owned wholesaler of moving equipment and supplies. In less than a decade, the business had expanded from one location in Georgia to multiple locations across the US (and grew its staff fourfold).
As a small business, N&N used QuickBooks and a third-party payroll provider to manage time records and payroll. QuickBooks couldn’t keep up with N&N’s quickly evolving needs, so the co-founders turned to NetSuite ERP and a time clock solution offered by NOVATime, a NetSuite partner, to manage its accounting and payroll processes.
N&N managed to reduce payroll processing time by 84% after implementing the ERP. The company was also able to balance accounts faster and track labor costs more easily across all its locations.
Reasons for Success
Integration with a third-party partner was key to tailoring the ERP’s feature set to meet N&N’s needs. Moreover, ensuring employee buy-in through training and active involvement in the process of choosing and implementing the ERP solution were key factors in N&N’s success story.
3. Cadbury
Cadbury, a British multinational confectionery company currently owned by Mondelez International, had various concerns that warranted implementing an ERP. Its primary challenges were issues related to production and distribution requirements during a high-growth phase.
Cadbury’s problems resulted in what SAP calls “one of the largest global ERP implementations”. The ERP implementation helped Cadbury standardize processes across 16 locations and consolidate 13 manufacturing operations within the company.
Finally, successful ERP implementation helped Cadbury lower its operating costs and improve production efficiency across its supply chain — aka, project succeeded.
Reasons for Success
Cadbury’s ERP success was part of a five-year IT transformation project. The implementation process isn’t always smooth, but if you’re determined and open to making multiple pivots, you’re more likely to be successful, just like Cadbury.
4. Nestlé
Nestlé is the world’s largest food and beverage company. The Swiss company decided to initiate an ERP implementation project called BEST (Business Excellence through Systems Technology) in 1997, due for completion in 2003. However, Nestlé’s implementation journey included multiple challenges.
SAP was Nestlé’s ERP of choice. Nestlé’s CEO himself teamed up with executives from multiple areas, including finance and distribution, to build a team of stakeholders to implement SAP. The team was sure about one thing: the implementation would reorganize business processes and cause a shift in the way Nestlé operates.
However, the stakeholder team failed to make the employees feel involved and communicate how this change would impact them, causing resentment among employees. Three years in, the project was halted, and the employee turnover reached 77%.
Nestlé decided to restart the process and this time, they made sure they involved divisional heads and all employees were fully aware of expected changes. This time, things panned out well. By 2002, Nestlé had saved $325 million in operating costs.
Reasons for Success
Nestlé messed up at first, but they were able to recognize and fix the problem instead of abandoning the implementation process entirely (as some companies do).
A perfect example of why employee buy-in is critical to a successful ERP implementation.
5. ABC Compounding
ABC Compounding manufactures liquid and aerosol products for multiple industries. Unlike other companies included in this list, ABC Compounding already had an ERP solution (ProcessPro) that lacked essential features like planning, scheduling, and MRP (material requirements planning).
Luckily for ABC, the company’s Chief Information Officer, Myra Huger, had used Sage ERP X3 at her previous company and was aware of the ERP’s extensive feature set. The company partnered with a local Sage business partner to assist with the implementation.
Thanks to their experienced partner, the company was able to make the switch to Sage ERP quickly and stick to their aggressive implementation timeline.
Reasons for Success
Myra’s experience with Sage, plus an experienced implementation partner by their side, were key drivers of successful implementation for ABC Compounding.
Having an expert on your team — internal or external — who can guide the process and offer training to your employees goes a long way toward a successful ERP implementation.
6. Hormel Foods
Hormel Foods manufactures, processes, and globally distributes various food and meat products. The company hadn’t updated its systems in years and relied on multiple tools that didn’t interface well together. In fact, the previous ERP upgrade was over 15 years prior, when Hormel decided to modernize and standardize its legacy systems.
KPMG was brought on board to support Hormel’s efforts to standardize its processes and improve data quality by implementing Oracle Cloud ERP. Post implementation, Hormel had a unified system that helped standardize business processes and data, streamline decision-making, and get a consolidated view of data across businesses.
Reasons for Success
The company’s Assistant Controller, Eldom Quan, credits its successful implementation to teamwork by Hormel Foods employees, and KPMG’s expertise; the two teams were so enmeshed that Eldom says you would fail to identify who was Hormel, and who was KPMG, when they were working together.
Clearly, employee buy-in and teamwork are vital for the successful implementation of ERP software.
7. Cisco Systems
The manufacturing and finance teams at Cisco were using outdated Oracle software for daily work; while it was enough to get things done, the company’s IT, operations, and executive teams were starting to feel the need to modernize the company’s architecture.
Cisco’s support costs were consistently increasing, and the legacy software made integrating feature enhancements and other software time-consuming and difficult. However, the desire to change came with a major challenge — the company’s need for uninterrupted access to corporate data.
With help from executives (and meticulous planning), Cisco was about to take its new system live over a holiday weekend in 2003, a full day less than originally planned.
Reasons for Success
Cisco believes its success was driven by “unwavering support and active involvement of executives and a company-wide commitment to succeed in this large-scale modernization project”.
The implementation team followed every part of the plan and carried out team-wide rehearsals to minimize risks and avoid surprises.
Best Practices for ERP Implementation
When I was looking into these implementations, I found some common themes:
Define Clear Objectives
Define specific, measurable objectives that you expect your ERP system to achieve. Do you need an ERP to streamline inventory management, improve data accuracy, or deliver better customer service? Once you know your goal, define a metric to track progress.
For example, your goal could be to reduce order processing time by 30% within six months of ERP implementation. Figuring out these details (alongside key stakeholders) before you start implementation helps you move, with intent, in the right direction.
Get Top Management and Employee Buy-In
True buy-in from top management is critical because ERP implementation requires a significant investment of time, money, and resources — things under the control of executives.
If you want to get management buy-in:
- Outline the benefits and expected ROI of ERP implementation
- Share your risk mitigation strategy
- Demonstrate how ERP implementation aligns with the company’s strategic goals
Of course, in many cases, an implementation project is top-down — in which case, management should involve employees at every stage of implementation, from planning to execution.
Remember: Employee buy-in is just as critical, or you could see employees resent and resign, like in the case of Nestlé.
Choose the Right ERP System and Vendor
Things can turn ugly when you implement an ERP solution that fails to meet your expectations, even though you got everything else right. Before you choose an ERP vendor, evaluate their industry experience, product roadmap, scalability, and support services. Then, do a fit-gap analysis by identifying gaps in your current processes alongside the ERP system features and functionality that can bridge those gaps.
When selecting an ERP, calculate the total cost of ownership. Add the initial purchase price, cost of implementation, ongoing costs like maintenance, and hidden costs such as change management, and potential downtime during implementation.
Ask the vendor for client references. Successful, recent implementation stories within your industry can give you and your team great confidence about the product’s viability for your business.
If you don’t have a system yet, start your vendor search here. These are the best ERP systems currently on the market:
Develop a Realistic Implementation Plan
Every company is different and implements ERP under its own unique circumstances. Nestlé took years to complete implementation, while Cisco rolled it out over a single weekend. Make sure you develop your implementation plan based on your specific circumstances.
Consider starting with a pilot test within a small segment or with specific modules. Make adjustments based on feedback as you continue the wider rollout.
There are quite a few things to take care of when creating an implementation plan, such as:
- Setting implementation milestones
- Identifying and minimizing risks
- Communicating the plan with employees and stakeholders
- Training
- Go-live prep
Involve team members working first-hand on processes that the ERP will change. This helps you develop a realistic implementation plan that’s ambitious and practical.
Monitor and Evaluate
Systems and processes can break post-implementation as well. Monitor technical and qualitative metrics after implementation to track system performance, user adoption, process efficiency, and financial outcomes. Collect feedback from users about their experience with the ERP system to identify areas where you could improve, or seek help from the vendor.
Also, monitor the introduction of new features and functionalities for your ERP and provide regular training opportunities when they’re rolled out, to help your employees fully utilize the ERP platform.
Agility is Critical to Success
Your implementation journey will very likely be different from others. You’ll face unique challenges, some of which may not be present in any implementation playbook, so be ready to be agile during the implementation process. This agility will help you make quick changes to the implementation plan based on evolving circumstances, and stack the odds of success in your favor.
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