The Hidden Costs of Understaffing Your ERP Transformation
Why Early Talent Alignment is the Key to ERP Success
By Gary Laverdiere
ERP transformations are one of the most ambitious—and risky—projects a manufacturer can undertake.
They promise improved efficiency, data-driven decisions, and streamlined operations. But too often, these projects stall or fail outright, not because of the software (although it could be, but that’s another post all by itself), but because of something far simpler: the right people aren’t in place at the right time.
In my 30 years of manufacturing IT and operations leadership, I’ve seen this story play out repeatedly. At Synigent Technologies, we help manufacturers avoid this by engaging early and aligning the right ERP talent from the start.
The Talent Gap Problem
ERP projects are often approved with optimism and budget, but staffing is treated as a box to check later. This creates a dangerous gap:
- Understaffed project teams can’t keep pace with design, testing, and implementation deadlines.
- Overextended internal resources are pulled from critical day-to-day operations, causing ripple effects across the business.
- Specialized skills—ERP developers, business analysts, project and change management experts—are hard to find at the last minute.
Result: Projects overrun timelines, budgets balloon, and business disruptions grow costly.
The Hidden Costs of Understaffing
The cost of not staffing properly goes far beyond just paying overtime or extending a go-live date.
1️⃣ Extended Downtime
Each additional week of delay can translate into hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost productivity.
2️⃣ Rework & Quality Issues
Without the right expertise, configuration and data migration errors multiply—requiring expensive rework post-implementation.
3️⃣ Employee Burnout & Turnover
Key employees working double duty are more likely to burn out or leave, creating additional backfill and knowledge transfer costs.
4️⃣ Missed ROI Targets
Every month of delay pushes ROI further out, eroding the business case and executive confidence.
Engage Early to Reduce Risk
When manufacturers engage Synigent early in the ERP process, we can:
- Map the talent plan to the project plan — identifying critical skills and timing
- Source experienced ERP professionals — Epicor, SAP, Oracle, and more
- Provide fractional leadership — experienced CxOs to guide governance, risk, and change management
- Build operational support — backfilling roles so internal teams can focus on transformation without disrupting operations
A Real-World Example
During my time as Senior Director of IT for a $750M global consumer goods company, we executed an ERP transformation from an internal legacy system to Epicor. Early in the process, we built a strong team—internally and externally—before the first line of code was migrated. Even with all our planning and building out of good teams and processes, there were still opportunities for improvement.
At Synigent, we bring that same disciplined approach to every client project.
Don’t Let Staffing Be an Afterthought
If you’re planning an ERP transformation—or already in the middle of one—your staffing plan can determine success or failure.
Let’s talk before talent gaps become costly delays.
📩 Contact Synigent for an ERP Talent Readiness Assessment.