How much ERP customization is too much?
When you upgrade your business processes to an ERP infrastructure, the reality is that you’re not necessarily thinking of customizations right away. You’re more worried about implementation timeline, training requirements, data migration, and so on. As you progress in the implementation stage, or even later on, it is normal that you will need to customize your system for specific requirements. As a NetSuite service provider, our team can tell you countless stories about last minute or complex custom work that had to be done to save the day.
However, it’s also important to note that there is such a thing as TOO MUCH customization. What does that mean? Well, some customization is going to be necessary for any growing business – as your system needs to adapt to your business size and requirements (think: a project-driven company that suddenly gets a massive influx of client demands or an online retailer that has to accommodate unpredictably large amounts of orders during Black Friday). So, at what point do you need to stop and ask yourself if you really need a customization? This usually occurs when businesses get stubborn with their old processes because employees are putting pressure on their team to have everything customized around the “usual” way of doing things. Our suggestion here is to not leap into customizations right away – often times, this can be a sign of a lack of training or an unawareness of NetSuite’s available functionalities.
When our Gurus take on a new project, we recommend a full business review [as part of the planning steps for a new implementation] where we look at all of your current process and give you suggestions on what needs customization, where you can benefit from NetSuite’s native features, and how much training will be required. Going into a new implementation project prepared will help you avoid last minute resistance to change and the risk of failure.
In one of our recent articles, Gurus CEO Martin McNicoll looks at ways to lower business risks & lead the way to long-term profitability. Also, take a look through our other Resources for more information on ERP, business technologies and everything Oracle and NetSuite.
About Gurus Solutions:
Gurus Solutions' dynamic team of business and technical professionals set the standard for best practices in the sales, servicing, and support of NetSuite (ERP) and several of Oracle’s leading solutions (PBCS, EPBCS, Financials Cloud, and more), as well as other associated cloud business management software solutions. We have a team of dedicated and certified ERP, CRM, and integration specialists ready to help you make the right solution selection, and to work on your implementation, integration, and/or customization projects.
As a trusted (5-Star award winner for 7 consecutive years) partner, we will support and guide you in migrating towards new modern software solutions to scale up your business. Our unique approach to business development provides our clients with the necessary push they need to achieve their goals. We are passionate cloud tech pioneers. Our team is always pushing for new and innovative ways to inspire tomorrow’s business world with innovative solutions to overcome their daily challenges.
