Should ERP Adapt to the Company, or Should the Company Adapt to ERP?
This is a question we encounter quite often in our day-to-day work.
On the one hand, software should support a company’s business processes and accommodate its specific needs. On the other hand, this does not mean that every existing way of working should be transferred into a new system exactly as it is.
There is also a very human factor at play: fear of change.
When people have worked in a certain way for years, introducing a new system can create uncertainty. Familiar routines feel safe, even when they are not necessarily the most efficient.
In one of our recent Odoo implementations for a manufacturing company, we first had to untangle a rather complex production process. Multi-level recipes, finished and semi-finished products, and various manufacturing operations. At first glance, there was a great deal of complexity for the new system to handle.
However, once we had worked through the entire production process step by step with the client, it became clear that virtually no custom development was needed. Standard Odoo functionality was sufficient. The company gained better visibility into its production and costs, and the implementation was completed under the originally planned budget.
In another company, the same approach would not have worked.
Production was project-based, without traditional bills of materials (BOMs). Using Odoo’s standard manufacturing module would have required a fundamentally different way of working. Instead, we developed a custom solution that connects projects, material movements, and production-related information into a single system. The goal was to move away from a situation where much of the necessary information was scattered across large, complex Excel spreadsheets.
And this project revealed something else worth mentioning. Some employees were initially strongly opposed to the new system.
That is understandable. When you have worked in the same way for years, a new system may initially seem like just another inconvenient change to get used to.
But when people begin to see that information previously managed in extensive Excel spreadsheets can instead be handled in one system, making their daily work easier, the value of the new solution becomes much clearer.
After all, employees do not want to spend their time on unnecessary manual tasks, entering the same information in multiple places, or searching for data any more than management does.
More efficient processes do not benefit company management alone. They also benefit the people who work with those processes every day. This is a reminder that ERP implementation is not just about technology. Change affects people, their habits, and their daily work.
These experiences show that ERP implementation involves much more than technology.
Not every company-specific process needs to be preserved through software customization. But not every unique process should be sacrificed for the sake of standardization, either. Sometimes the right approach is to adapt the software. Other times, it makes more sense to change the way the company works. The key is knowing how to distinguish genuine business needs from established habits.
Simply introducing a new system does not mean people will embrace it. They need to see how the change benefits them, too.