Go-live, change management and cost
Go-live is the day the company actually starts working on the new system. There are four strategies:
| Strategy | How | When it fits |
|---|---|---|
| Big bang | The whole company switches on one day. | Small companies with simple processes. Fastest but riskiest. |
| Phased | Module by module, for example finance first, then inventory. | Large projects that want lower risk. |
| Parallel | Old and new run side by side for a while and results are compared. | When errors are very costly, such as payroll. But it doubles the work. |
| Pilot | One site goes first; the rest follow once it succeeds. | Companies with similar sites, like Nakhla: Jeddah first. |
Why do ERP projects stumble? Rarely for technical reasons. The usual causes: uncontrolled scope growth, excessive customisation, dirty legacy data, missing executive sponsorship, and weak training that sends staff back to Excel.
That's why change management is essential: explain to staff why things are changing, pick key users in each department who train first and become their colleagues' go-to people, and train well before go-live.
Total cost of ownership (TCO): the licence or subscription is only part of it. Add up subscription or licences, implementation and consulting, data migration, training, infrastructure, and support and upgrades over 3 to 5 years.