You’ve made the leap. After months (maybe even years!) of research, planning, and investment, your cloud ERP system is finally taking shape. The technology is solid, the strategy is sound, and the implementation partner is ready to roll.
All sounds good, right? So why do so many ERP projects still miss the mark? Here’s the hard truth. ERP initiatives rarely fail because of the software. They fail because people don’t know how to use the new system.
Too often, training is treated like an afterthought; a checkbox at the end of a long to-do list. But what makes the difference between a successful go-live and a frustrated, faltering launch? Your users, and more specifically their abilities.
ERP training is as important as the system implementation. And prioritizing it alongside the project is how you maximize your investment.
In this post we’ll explore what constitutes effective training, how to prioritize it, and provide recommendations on how to evaluate training options so that you’re confident it’s going to support you and your team during your next big ERP project.
The Risks of Improper ERP Training
So, what happens without the right training? Simply put, your business may face several detrimental outcomes, including:
1. Low adoption and resistance to change: Insufficient training often leads to low user adoption and resistance to new systems. One study finds that 51% of ERP projects experience resistance from employees. And that resistance can turn into a waste of your organization’s valuable time and money, which are probably already feeling the strain during an intensive ERP project.
Pushback from employees can slow down project timelines and increase your organization’s implementation costs. And if employees aren’t getting the most out of the new ERP system, the intended benefits of increased efficiency, reduced costs, and better decision-making will fail to materialize.
2. Inaccurate data and process breakdowns: Without proper training, users may inaccurately enter data in your ERP system. And these data inaccuracies pose serious risk that can lead to significant operational and security issues. Put another way, “dirty” or faulty data is bad news for business.
In fact, Gartner found that poor data quality costs businesses an average of $12.9 million a year. Dirty data can affect revenue, operational expenses, and your company’s reputation—as well as lead to legal and regulatory issues. Moral of the story? Teach your users how to enter data accurately in the beginning and save yourself from fixing costly errors down the road.
3. Help desk overload and disengaged employees: Lack of training can overwhelm IT support and disengage employees. The reason? Inadequate training leads to increased reliance on help desks, contributing to IT overload and employee dissatisfaction. This issue can be further exacerbated if your IT teams also fail to receive effective training.
4. Higher long-term costs: It’s been recommended to build in a 10% contingency budget for unforeseen expenditures, which can include retraining. When users aren’t equipped to use the system efficiently, it leads to frequent errors, costly rework, and expensive retraining efforts.
Worse, teams may develop inefficient workarounds that bypass ERP best practices, undermining the system’s ROI. After all, fixing problems post-go-live costs far more than doing it right the first time.
When Should You Ask About Training?
It’s in your best interest to discuss training early on into the project. In fact, ERP training needs should be planned with your implementation partner before you begin your engagement with them and be part of your qualifying process for vendors.
This due diligence up front will allow you to go over the fine details of what training your vendor will provide with the implementation and make sure training is covered in your project charter.
Because training can help your team tap into its full potential, make sure that what your implementation partner is proposing for training is not a 5,000-page manual and a library of pre-recorded videos.
While these self-service resources may be useful, they miss the mark in building up user confidence and technical ability in navigating the new system. Which brings us to our next point, training in partnership with change management.
ERP Training & Change Management in Tandem
Managing organizational change for an ERP implementation, whether it’s a migration or a net-new implementation, is a high-stakes proposition. That’s why thoughtful change management, including training, is key to its success.
They may sound quite different, but the fact is that they share many of the same principles. Here’s why you should prioritize both:
- Change management focuses on preparing the people most affected by new tools and processes on how to approach change.
- Training provides those same people with the resources they need to be successful.
Together, change management and training form a powerful foundation that not only eases anxiety around change but also drives faster, stronger user adoption. When employees feel both supported and capable, they’re far more likely to engage with the new system and use it to its full potential.
And the sooner your users become familiar with a new system, such as Infor CloudSuite, the smoother the transition will be.
What Good Training Looks Like
Effective ERP training balances the needs of your organizations, the future-state ERP, and your specific users. To achieve this, the training needs to be:
- Role-based: Tailored to the specific tasks and responsibilities of each user group.
- Scenario-driven: Grounded in real-world examples and hands-on practice.
- Ongoing: Supported by documentation, office hours, super users, and continuous learning opportunities.
Your ERP partner should be able to speak to each of these requirements when proposing their training solution.
And depending on what project aspects you’re focusing on, and where you are in the implementation process, the training may look different. For example, the discovery and planning phases are well-suited to classroom-style training and workshops.
In contrast, hands-on training using a sandbox environment may work better for the configuration and validation phases, while post-implementation system stability and support can be delivered via online resources and support channels.
For some real-life examples of what effective ERP training looks like, check out the RPI Tech Connect episode, ERP Level-Up: The Power of Hands-On Training below. Among the topics covered are common challenges, creative solutions, and the things organizations often overlook when planning ERP training.
The ROI of Training Done Right
By now it’s clear that effective training is the trojan horse to successfully implement your cloud-based ERP. But how exactly do you quantify that?
Great question. Companies typically see a 30% ROI increase within three years of implementing their ERP system. Taking a strategic approach to ERP training can help your organization boost its ROI by focusing on:
- Faster ramp-up: Users become productive more quickly, accelerating time-to-value.
- Higher satisfaction: Only 26% of employees fully use their organization’s ERP capabilities, so keep in mind that confident users are happier, more engaged, and more likely to champion the system.
- Less dependence on consultants after go-live: Internal teams take ownership, reducing long-term costs.
- Stronger organizational resilience: You’re building a foundation that will scale with your organization for years to come. When faced with challenges, your team will be able to more confidently resolve them as well as prevent them from recurring.
Beyond the financial reasons, workers actually appreciate good ERP training and want more of it. Data from our 2025 State of Infor Community Survey finds that nearly 63% of Infor CloudSuite users say they’d like to have additional training events available to them.
And that’s exactly why Infor and its partners are making training a priority, by meeting customers where they are. For example, RPI holds both in-person and hybrid training events, like Bootcamps and Lunch & Learns.
Remember, while go-live represents the finish line for many of the people on your team, it’s the starting line for the people who are using the ERP system now and going forward. And for that reason, you can’t put a price on training that helps end users get comfortable with the system.
ERP Training as a Strategic Lever
At RPI Consultants, we see training as a cornerstone of every ERP project. Our training philosophy combines deep functional expertise, real-world industry knowledge, and a mixture of in-person and remote learning strategies to deliver real results.
We don’t just train users, we coach organizations to build internal champions who can lead from within, long after go-live. Because a successful ERP implementation doesn’t end when the system turns on; rather, that’s when it really begins.
To learn more about how RPI Consultants can support your organization with proven ERP training, check out the testimonial below where Central Ohio Transit Authority shares its experience with RPI’s Infor CloudSuite training.
