ERP Change Management: The People Risks Before Go-Live
- Sherry Linares
- Jan 6
- 6 min read
ERP change management is often treated like something you get to later — after the system is selected, the timeline is set, and the project feels officially “underway.” In my experience, it starts much earlier, usually at the exact moment people stop asking questions and start making assumptions.
As I shared in my first blog in this series, most ERP projects don’t fail because of the technology. They drift off course much earlier, often before the system ever goes live.
Consider a chef running a busy kitchen. The menu is set. But if the chef assumes everyone knows who’s on prep, who’s on plating, and who’s handling substitutions when things go sideways, the dinner rush turns chaotic fast. Orders still go out, but stress levels spike, mistakes creep in, and the food gets out, but the experience leaves everyone frazzled.
ERP projects unfold the same way. The intent is good. The plan looks reasonable. Everyone believes they’re aligned. But without clear roles, shared expectations, and open communication, misalignment creeps in early — long before Go-Live is anywhere on the horizon.
This is where people problems quietly take over, and where ERP change management either does its job or gets overlooked.
In this second blog of the series, I’m focusing on the human-side breakdowns that derail ERP projects before the system goes live, and what leaders can do early to keep momentum, trust, and clarity intact.
Early warning sign No. 1: Leadership alignment is assumed, not confirmed
One of the most common patterns I see in ERP projects isn’t disagreement, it’s unspoken divergence.
Early on, alignment feels implicit. Everyone supports the initiative. But broad agreement often hides very different expectations.
This is where silence can do real damage.
One leader sees the ERP as a technology upgrade. Another sees a chance to fix long-standing process issues. Someone else is focused on reporting and visibility.
Another assumes disruption will be minimal.
None of those views are wrong, but when they aren’t surfaced together, the project starts serving too many priorities at once.
Over time, that shows up in familiar ways:
Decisions stall because no one is sure who truly owns them.
Priorities shift mid-stream.
Tradeoffs get postponed instead of resolved.
And when tension finally surfaces, it feels sudden, even though the conditions were there all along.
This is where ERP change management really starts.
Not with training plans or communications calendars, but with leadership clarity.
The strongest ERP projects pause early to ask:
What will actually be different after Go-Live? What are we trying to change?
How are we trying to improve our processes and deal with pain points?
Which outcomes matter most if tradeoffs are required?
Who has final decision authority?
What are we willing or able to change, and what are we not willing to change?
When those answers are clear, teams move faster with far less friction. When they’re not, the project still moves, but without a shared compass.
CIO research shows that transformation efforts struggle not because the technology fails, but because leadership and communication gaps go unaddressed.
Early warning sign No. 2: The wrong people are carrying the project
Another quiet risk is a project team that looks right on paper but lacks deep connection to day-to-day operations.
When the people closest to the work, who do the job on a daily basis, aren’t involved early, future-state processes are built around assumptions instead of reality. Edge cases surface late.
Adoption slows.
And teams feel like the system was designed for them, not with them.
This is a common breakdown in ERP change management. When the right voices are missing, teams end up solving the wrong problems, albeit efficiently.
What works better is intentional inclusion:
Involving true process owners, not just department heads
Giving frontline experts real influence
Treating feedback as design input, not resistance
Pulling in the right voices early prevents far bigger issues later.
Early warning sign No. 3: Communication seems frequent, but clarity is missing
Most ERP project teams communicate constantly. Updates go out. Meetings happen. Slides are shared.
And yet confusion spreads.
Why? Because frequency isn’t the same as understanding.
When communication focuses on progress instead of impact, people are left guessing what the change means for them.
Clear communication answers practical questions:
What will change in my daily work/process?
When do I need to be involved?
What decisions are coming?
Where do I go when I’m unsure?
When those answers aren’t explicit, assumptions fill the gap, and assumptions rarely align.
Early warning sign No. 4: Resistance shows up quietly
Resistance rarely looks dramatic. More often, it sounds reasonable: “We’ve tried this before.” “Can we keep doing it the old way for now?” “I didn’t realize this process was changing.”
Sometimes those are valid concerns. Sometimes they’re expressions of uncertainty. Either way, they’re signals.
Effective ERP change management doesn’t eliminate resistance... but it listens to it. Addressed early, resistance surfaces real risks.
Ignored, it turns into disengagement and workarounds.
Early warning sign No. 5: Testing gets compressed (or quietly skipped)
One of the most overlooked people problems in ERP work shows up during testing.
What often looks like a timing issue is really about ownership, priorities, and buy-in.
ERP testing failures tend to surface when testing is rushed, shortened, or handled by a small group without meaningful input from the people who will actually use the system.
This lack of testing in ERP projects isn’t usually a technical decision. It’s a signal that timelines were overly optimistic or that teams underestimated how much confidence testing builds before Go-Live.
Training builds familiarity, but confidence often forms later — when people start interacting with the system in realistic ways.
Early warning sign No. 6: Training is treated as a milestone, not readiness
Training often gets compressed, scheduled late, and measured by attendance instead of confidence.
When people don’t feel capable in the new system, organizations pay for it through errors, slower cycles, and frustration. Go-Live may technically succeed, but performance suffers.
This is where ERP change management becomes operational.
The goal isn’t “training delivered.” The goal is “people can do their jobs well.”
That means role-based training, practice time, reinforcement after Go-Live, and clear support paths when questions arise.
ERP change management before Go-Live: what it really requires
In practice, ERP change management before Go-Live isn’t a checklist. It’s the discipline of preparing people for what’s changing, why it matters, and how they’ll succeed.
The strongest projects share common traits:
Visible, aligned leadership sponsorship
Clear ownership and decision paths
Communication designed for understanding
Training focused on readiness
Feedback loops that surface issues early
Champions who build confidence across teams
Time and again, I’ve seen ERP projects succeed not because the technology was perfect, but because the people side of change was handled with intention.
The technology enables change. People determine whether it sticks.
A quick self-check for leaders
If you want to spot risk before Go-Live, I often recommend stepping back and asking a few simple questions. Not as a formal assessment, but as an honest check-in.
Do we actually agree on what success looks like, in plain language?
Are the right people shaping decisions early, or just reacting to them later?
Do teams understand what will change for them day to day — not just that change is happening?
Are concerns being surfaced openly, or quietly worked around?
Are people being prepared to succeed, or just trained to comply?
If any of those answers are unclear, the risk usually isn’t technical. It’s human. And the earlier it’s addressed, the easier it is to fix.
What’s next
In my next blog — the final installment of this series, I’ll shift from prevention to momentum, and how teams keep ERP projects moving when priorities change, energy dips, and real life inevitably intervenes.
If you’d like to explore how these concepts apply to your own organization, you can reach out here – I'd love to chat!
About the Author
Sherry Linares is the President of SL Dynamic Global Solutions LLC, where she helps organizations navigate ERP and IT transformations with a focus on practical solutions and empathetic leadership.
She brings a rare blend of technical insight and real-world experience, built from her years as an end user in Finance and IT and from leading Microsoft Dynamics NAV implementations across the U.S., Europe, and Japan.
Her work as NAVUG Director at Dynamics Communities strengthened her commitment to advocating for users and bridging the gap between business needs and technology.
Sherry’s curiosity for technology began early when she tested Windows 3.1.1 and early versions of CorelDRAW, Word, and Excel.
Today, that same curiosity shapes her people-first approach to helping businesses adopt better processes, not just new systems.
Connect with Sherry on LinkedIn.
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