Multi Country Roll out of an ERP: approach for managing change

Introduction

Many companies resort to a single enterprise resource planning solution, to support their global operations and expand their reach.  Global implementation of ERP systems, involves a series of repetitive project operations containing harmonization of processes, data functionalities and managing diversified business activities across countries and increase visibility of business operations. This is also known as multi country roll out.

The challenges in Multi country roll out

• Legal compliance & local statutory requirements
• Local complexity
• Cultural differences and language
• IT infrastructural issues
• Adoption and existing legacy system (if any) in different countries

The process

Multi-country roll out begins with having first defined the project assumptions followed by developing a global template that may be applied as is or customized according to the specific needs of subsidiaries and business units. The following major step of implementation involves many approaches such as:

The Big Bang (All at once)- Here implementation happens in a single instance. All the subsidiaries move into the new implementation all at once. This approach is suitable for small projects with implementation at few sites.

The Phased Roll-Out- This is a staged implementation that happens over an extended period of time. This approach is better suited for a multi-country roll out.

Parallel Adoption- In this approach the new system is not brought in all at once. The legacy system is used parallel as the new system is brought in making it easier for the users to learn the new system while still using the old.

As mentioned earlier a phased roll out is often preferred by ERP consultants for a global roll out. There are two common approaches to this: Local Team approach and Central Team Approach.

Local Team Approach v/s Central Team Approach

Local Team Approach

A project concept based on given requirements which are then forwarded to the local teams which implement the global ERP solution at their respective subsidiaries. Each local team needs to understand the project scope and objectives before implementation at.

Pros:

• Understanding of local statutory and legal requirements helps quick implementation
• Knowledge of their existing system and user expectations ensures faster integration of the new system 

Cons:

• Continuity of the work gets affected
• Local team’s involvement is restricted to that subsidiary only

 Central Team Approach

One team is responsible for defining objectives and scope of global standardization as well as solution implementation in successive subsidiaries. This way the development team’s expertise can be applied to other subsidiaries as well and the business centric focus is maintained.

Pros:

• Standardized approach towards business and technical solutions
• Less effort during subsidiaries implementation
• Controlled and effective governance

Cons:

• Initial investment is high
• Time spent in gathering requirements from different subsidiaries results in late ROI realization
• Higher as actual BU implementation is performed later

Conclusion

With the aim of consolidating financial reporting and streamlining business processes, companies are increasing resorting to rolling out a single ERP solution across subsidiaries. While, that is a challenge in itself, keeping in mind the time, project costs and organizational goals local or global approach may be adopted for the standardization to work best.

Your thoughts on this aspects are welcome 😃

Thank you!

Jaymesh Shah