In every ERP selection process we see, the client eventually asks: “Who should lead this implementation?” The answer is almost always wrong. Not because the parties involved are poor partners, but because their roles are structurally ill-suited to the work that needs to be done.
The software supplier sells licences. Its team knows how the package works, the configuration screens and the standard workflows. What it does not do is design your specific business processes. It is neither trained nor assessed on that work, and has no commercial incentive to take it on. The question “How do you want to organise this process?” inevitably emerges halfway through the implementation, when nobody is in a position to answer it.
An advisory-only consultant stops at the other end. They deliver a selection report, a gap analysis and recommendations. What they do not do is sit alongside you when the first data is loaded and the first construction VAT reverse-charge entry is posted in the live system. Their work ends just as the real work, day-to-day use, begins.
A gap opens between the two, precisely where most ERP implementations get stuck.
“We have seen many projects where the client lost six months because nobody could make the decisions. Everyone was waiting for someone else. That is a structural problem, not a problem with individual people.”
— Dennis Michiels, Senior Application Expert at Teamservices
Teamservices deliberately bridges that gap. We do not arrive with an empty system for you to configure yourself. We bring proven process designs developed with comparable Belgian construction and infrastructure companies. Those designs are not fixed, but give your team a starting point to respond to. “We do it differently because…” is a far more productive discussion than “Tell us what you want and we will build it.”
This approach explains why our teams can implement RIB 4.0, Business Central and KPD. The underlying construction processes remain the same: estimating, project controls, subcontractor monitoring and progress statements. Those processes do not change with the software. What changes is the configuration, and our application experts are each trained in a particular package so they understand it thoroughly.
The practical implication is straightforward. In your next discussions with suppliers, ask one specific question: “Who designs the process?” If the answer is “you”, you may have a problem. If it is “the supplier”, the same applies. You have the team needed to reach a genuine go-live only when a third party takes on process design and accepts responsibility for it.
That is neither the supplier’s role nor the advisory consultant’s. It is the role Teamservices has fulfilled for eleven years, regardless of the software being implemented.
The RIB partnership does not change that. It simply makes our bridging role explicit, alongside a supplier that chose us for precisely that reason.
Read more here about our approach and how we can help your construction company.
Your next step starts with a conversation
If you have an ERP question today, you do not immediately need an implementation project. First, you need a useful conversation with someone who understands your situation without a sales agenda. Someone who can tell you when RIB 4.0 suits your needs and when another package would work better. Someone who knows Belgian requirements and which questions you should ask every supplier.
The conversation takes about an hour. It is free, without obligation, and leaves you with practical advice.
