A Complete Guide to ERP Readiness in 2026 and Beyond
Choosing an ERP (enterprise resource planning) system is a major investment, but before comparing vendors and features, businesses need to answer a more basic question: Are we actually ready for one?
In a recent NetSuite article, Lisa Schwarz, Senior Director of Global Product Marketing, explains why an ERP readiness assessment should happen before an implementation begins. The assessment looks beyond technology and budget to consider whether a company’s people, processes, data and culture are prepared for the changes an ERP will bring. One of the biggest points is that an ERP won’t automatically fix broken processes. Companies should first identify problems with things like inventory, reporting, communication or manual data entry and determine whether the underlying processes need to change. Otherwise, those same problems can simply end up inside the new system.
The article also highlights several signs that a company may have outgrown its current systems, including difficulty scaling operations, poor real-time reporting, inconsistent controls, unsupported legacy software, global expansion, increasingly complex manufacturing and mergers or acquisitions. But technology is only part of the equation. Employees, training and change management are critical. Teams need to understand why the ERP is being introduced, how their jobs may change and what skills they’ll need to work effectively with new automation and AI capabilities. Data readiness is another major consideration. Before migration, companies need to identify, clean and map their data. Incomplete, duplicate or inconsistent information can create problems with reporting, inventory and customer service long after implementation.
ERP readiness isn’t just about having the budget for a new system. It’s about making sure the business, its data and its people are ready to make the investment worthwhile.
Retiring Lawson, PeopleSoft, or Oracle? APIX archives the entire application — every table, every year, attachments and security included — into your own AWS account in about 30 days, so you can decommission the legacy system and keep full access to the history.
