Why not just buy the ERP software that your colleagues or competitors use? Why spend money to evaluate software and manage the implementation when replacing outdated software?
This page highlights where your investment in Wayferry’s process generates substantial returns. The examples below use round numbers and are based on “mid-market” companies. Please contact us if you would like help in estimating your ROI.
Since most companies replace outdated ERP software, these examples are phrased in terms of ERP but the same principles apply to any enterprise software.
Business alignment
Achieving business goals is the primary way a company creates value. Wayferry starts the ERP selection part of a project by interviewing senior leadership and asking them, “What must the new ERP software deliver to help you achieve your business goals?” The answers to these questions guide the software selection to maximize the value of the new ERP software.
We interview process owners to capture all processes that should be executed in the new ERP, and the outputs those processes must deliver. We ensure the new ERP software can deliver those outputs.
Business requirements
End users themselves prioritize requirements. They learn that it is their decisions that make the software selection, and this leads to buy-in. Risk is reduced as employees take ownership of the project and drive it to a successful conclusion.
Software evaluation
The fit score measures how well the new ERP meets your requirements. No software is perfect, and the Wayferry Navigator measures how well potential ERP products meet your specific requirements. User expectations are set because you know the compromises before signing the purchase contracts.
Negotiate better contracts
Most buyers pay much more than they need to because they don’t maximize their advantages before signing the ERP software purchase and implementation contracts.
Wayferry’s hierarchical requirements structure allows us to export them in WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) format. The implementation project manager imports this data directly into their project management system and estimates how much time will be spent on implementing the new ERP. The detail Wayferry provides means system integrators can provide you with a fixed price quote for the implementation with little risk of change orders driving up costs.
Wayferry ensures the RFP of the selected ERP is included in the contract agreements. If the vendor claimed the software fully meets a requirement and during implementation it is discovered that is not true, the contract states the vendor must resolve the problem at their own cost.
Software companies have spent years negotiating with customers and know every trick in the book for maximizing revenue. When customers attempt to negotiate it’s like high school football players being thrust into the professional leagues - they simply don’t stand a chance. The Wayferry team includes skilled enterprise software negotiators who ensure you get a good deal and cap your long term license cost increases.
The Wayferry Navigator analysis measures how well competing products meet your specific requirements. If your preferred ERP vendor plays “hard ball” you have the negotiation leverage of using your second choice.
Reduce implementation costs
ERP implementations are notorious for taking longer than planned and costing more than budgeted. Scope increases during implementation are common causes of schedules slipping and cost overruns. Schedule slips of 25% or 50% are common.
Wayferry’s WBS requirements export of WHAT the ERP software must deliver contains the detail needed to keep the system integrators focused on precisely WHAT they must deliver, and reduces the risk of scope creep.
For each requirement we capture who wants it, why they want it, and how important it is to them. Questions inevitably arise during implementation, and knowing who to ask reduces implementation decision latency.
When ERP schedules slip:
If your ERP implementation was budgeted at $4 million and slips by 25%. you will spend an unbudgeted $1 million extra.
If your ERP is expected to deliver $2 million per year ROI and the project slips by 6 months, that is a cost of $1 million unrealized ROI.
Minimize business disruption on going live
If the new software doesn’t work as expected when going live the costs can be high. See Finish Line's Supply Chain disaster that cost $32 million in lost sales, and the CEO his job.
Wayferry’s User Acceptance Testing (UAT) verifies that the new ERP software is operationally ready, which reduces the risk of business disruption when going live.