Silverdale Technology
Democratizing ERP Implementation

In today’s fast-paced and highly competitive business environment, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions are a quintessential prerequisite for businesses to maintain a seamless operational workflow and create a backbone for future growth. Nevertheless, ERP implementation calls for massive cost and time investments, making it affordable for only large enterprises while it is a tough road to stride for small and medium-sized businesses. Washington-based Silverdale Technology is taking up this challenge of leveling the ERP playing field for small and medium-sized enterprises.

“Our vision is to productize the implementation of ERP systems and make it affordable and easy-to-use for businesses of any size,” says Nick Foy, Founder and CEO of Silverdale. Being an official partner of Odoo, Silverdale leverages its highly customizable features to integrate Odoo or other ERP platforms into an organization’s business processes quickly, cheaply, and with less risk.

Since ERP implementation is not akin to IT projects that laser-focus on software development activities, Silverdale believes in adopting an approach that prioritizes not only technology but also business processes and user adoption. To that end, Silverdale advocates a phased ERP implementation process that makes it easier for small and medium-sized businesses to implement a cohesive ERP platform.

Using a proprietary modus operandi known as Silverdale Implementation Method (SIM), the company primarily divides the ERP implementation process into three phases— business simulation, implementation, and customization. In the business simulation stage, the goal is to identify gaps in the client’s business processes. Silverdale devises appropriate mitigation strategies for each of those gaps for the client to calibrate their business processes and fix those disparities. Moreover, as opposed to most ERP solution providers that map out their client’s business processes before customizing the ERP, Silverdale chooses a different path. The company believes that 70 percent of what most businesses do—buying and selling products or creating invoices and sending vendor bills—is more or less the same. Accordingly, Silverdale has a pre-installed library of over 200 business processes so clients can choose to adopt the best processes for their particular function and use the ERP right out of the box. Following the business simulation stage is the implementation phase. Unlike other ERP implementers, Silverdale has certified Change Managers on staff and spends most of their time in user-facing training, communication, and other adoption techniques designed to get users using their new processes and systems as seamlessly as possible. Once the ERP goes live, Silverdale walks their client through a period of “realization” to ensure the client is reaping all the benefits of the ERP.

Unlike other solution providers who consider their job done directly after deploying the ERP, Silverdale takes their client through user training, setup and configuration, data management, and technical support to assure that their system is up and running smoothly. Only after ticking all the boxes does Silverdale initiate the final stage of customizing the functionalities of the ERP to the distinct objectives of each client.

Silverdale’s top-of-the-line competencies were on full display when they worked with a non-profit organization that needed to incorporate an ERP for monitoring the operations of a botanical garden. As the pandemic hit, the organization was in search of a robust system to organize and manage its workflow virtually. Silverdale’s ERP implementation enabled the administrative body of the botanical garden to centrally manage the membership database, keep note of plant sales, maintain accounts, and also contact their members through email marketing. Moreover, Silverdale also aided them in building a specific database for their plant collection where they were able to seamlessly categorize the plant, track its history and provenance, and gain an overall idea of its lifecycle in the garden.

Our vision is to productize the implementation of ERP systems by making it accessible for businesses of any size

Steering ahead, Silverdale plans to broaden its client base while venturing deeper into the U.S. and Canadian markets. The company is focusing on automating a major part of its proprietary methodology to ensure fewer routine errors, prevent unintended duplication of data, and provide more streamlined communications, leading to time savings and lower operational costs. “We are ready to help all our clients be confident about completing a successful ERP implementation on time and budget,” states Foy.