Consultant at GenetiQ (previously Intact).
At GenetiQ (previously Intact), they believe Enterprise Resource Planning, (ERP), implementation should feel structured, supported and manageable. It’s a process they work through together to help set your business up for long-term success. In the below Q&A The Hardware Journal speaks with Stephen Jackman, Migration and Integration Consultant at GenetiQ, about what the process actually looks like in practice.
Further information is also available at www.genetiqsoftware.com.
Q&A: What to Expect When Implementing a New Business System?
Replacing the systems you use to run your business is never a small decision, but there comes a point where the old way of doing things just isn’t working anymore. While ERP implementation can seem daunting, the process is often far more manageable than you might think.
What worries businesses most about changing ERP?
Usually, it’s the fear of disruption. Your ERP or business management software touches everything – stock, pricing, orders, accounts, deliveries. So naturally, you worry about what changing it could mean day to day.
But implementation is much more staged than people expect. You’re not switching everything overnight and hoping for the best. We phase projects carefully, hitting key milestones along the way so the process feels controlled from start to finish.
What’s the first step when changing systems?
The first thing we do is understand how your business works today.
We’ll look at your stock structure, customer accounts, pricing, suppliers and any systems connected around your ERP, things like websites, couriers or payment platforms.
This stage is less about software features and more about understanding what you need from the system. We also like to challenge your thinking so together we can work out the most efficient way of doing things for your business.
Is data migration the biggest challenge?
It’s definitely one of the biggest parts of the project, but it’s rarely as daunting as people think.
A lot of businesses assume migration happens once, but the process happens in stages. We’ll bring your customer accounts, products, stock and pricing into the new system early so your team can start testing day-to-day tasks before anything goes live.
The first cut is really about helping you recognise your business inside the new system. Seeing your customers, products and stock in there early on makes the whole process feel much more real and manageable.
What’s the biggest thing businesses uncover as they implement a new system?
Usually, it’s how many workarounds have developed outside their current system over the years.
You often discover processes people have simply adapted to over time, whether that’s duplicate customer records, overcomplicated pricing structures or manual spreadsheets sitting alongside your ERP.
Implementation gives you the opportunity to step back and clean those things up rather than carrying them into the new system. It can feel like a big task at first, but it usually leaves the business with simpler processes and far more reliable data going forward.
What about go-live itself?
By the time you reach go-live, your team should already have worked through the key processes several times using your own data.
Orders have been tested, stock movements checked and integrations run through properly before the final switch happens.
Go-live is always busy, but it’s usually far less dramatic than people expect because the preparation has already been done.
At GenetiQ, we believe ERP implementation should feel structured, supported and manageable. It’s a process we work through together to help set your business up for long-term success. www.genetiqsoftware.com
