13 Pitfalls to Avoid When Acquiring an Order Management System

10. Not doing true due diligence. Partnering with a vendor is a lot like getting married. However, you’re not marrying just a person but an entire “family” of vendor managers, vendor programmers and other users. Every family is a bit dysfunctional (read: no system is perfect). Can you live with this family’s particular issues?

11. Not leaving enough time for testing. I’ve already discussed the timeline, but this deserves a special mention. If your timeline has slipped, implementation is where you’re going to cut the biggest corners. Don’t do it! What good is implementing a broken system?

Virtually every system has to go through a shakeout period in which you ascertain how your data are going to work in the new environment. There will be some nasty surprises, and hopefully they easily can be fixed. But be sure those surprises occur during your carefully managed testing phase, not during the first few months after you’ve gone live.

Also, resist the temptation to run your new system in tandem with your old one. (That’s a story for another time.) Rather, test, test and test some more; then cut over cleanly to your new system when it’s ready to bear the load.

12. Not doing enough training. When the testing is done, let the training begin. What? No time for training?

If you think your staff can undergo “sink or swim” training, be prepared for a lot of drowning. A week or two of solid orientation, careful instruction and practice is crucial to making the implementation a success.

13. Not treating this as an evolving process. Finally — and this may be the most difficult to avoid — you can’t pull all this off in a bubble. Life goes on while you’re undertaking your system project. By the time you get the system running, chances are your company will be different from what it was when the project began. The week after you go live, you’ll see the system in a new light anyway.