5. Continuous improvement in the after live (post-implementation) stage
Once it is agreed that initial implementation success is not the final goal, it becomes clear that ERP systems should
still change and evolve after go-live. (Ha and Ahn, 2013)
There are a couple of reasons why continuous improvement is necessary in the after live (post-implementation)
stage. Firstly, the need for maintenance and support arises naturally after go-live (Welch and Kordysh 2007). Due to
the enormous size of ERP systems, its maintenance can often involve dealing with serious defects during
implementation that leads to modification or addition of some functions. For example, Tsai et al.’s study (2011) shows
that the performance of business can be influenced bysystem and data maintenance activities in the postimplementation stage, where the maintenance can include adjusting the ERP system architecture or adding new
functions. Shang and Seddon’s study (2007) also suggests that ERP implementation can incur many deficiencies due
to the complex nature of the system, which need to be actively addressed after go-live for the successful use of ERP.
Secondly, simple modification or extension of some of the functions is often insufficient.
So, on-going reengineering of the business processes is necessary. Without these efforts, ERP systems may
inevitably contain many disconnects in the business processes (Allen, 2011), which may inhibit enterprise-wide
process integration (Ha and Ahn, 2013).