Scaling Your ERP Team: When and How to Expand

How to Grow Your Team at the Right Time.

As your ERP implementation progresses from blueprint to go-live to optimisation, the team behind it must evolve too. Knowing when and how to scale your ERP team isn’t always obvious. Scale too early, and you risk bloating the team with unclear roles, idle resources, and unnecessary costs. Scale too late, and you risk bottlenecks, burnout, missed deadlines, or even failed adoption of the ERP.

Here’s how we recommend hitting the right balance:

1. Align Team Growth to ERP Lifecycle Milestones

Your ERP team shouldn’t be set in stone. It should reflect where you are in the project and where you're going. A smart way to plan is by mapping your hiring and resourcing to lifecycle phases:

• Discovery & Planning: ERP Project Manager, Solution Architect, Functional Lead, Business Analyst

• Design & Build: Functional Consultants, Developers (if customisations needed), Data Migration Specialist

• Testing & Deployment: Test Manager, Training Lead, Cutover Manager

• Post Go-Live & Optimisation: Support Analysts, Change Manager, Continuous Improvement Lead

This phased approach ensures you're not overloading the team upfront, while keeping critical roles in place during peak activity and go-live pressure. Don’t underestimate post-go-live. Many companies over-hire for delivery and under-hire for maintenance and sustainability.

2. Start with Core Roles, Then Layer in Your Specialists

Your initial hires or project team should focus on the foundational pillars: project leadership, core configuration, and integration design. From there, scale by layering in specialists based on specific needs:

• Data Migration Lead when legacy systems are complex or fragmented

• Training & Adoption Manager if user enablement is critical for success

• Industry-Specific Consultant when compliance or process nuance matters

• Integration Developer for systems like WMS, CRM, payroll, or bespoke tools

Hiring reactively can lead to skill gaps. Building a flexible, layered approach ensures clarity, speed, and efficiency in the teams.

3. Blend Contract, Partner, and Permanent Talent Intentionally

Scaling doesn’t mean filling every seat with a permanent hire.

Smart ERP teams combine:

• Contractors for short-term spikes (e.g. testing, UAT, data migration)

• Systems integrator/partner consultants for specialist phases or knowledge transfer

• Permanent staff for ownership, stability, and long-term optimisation

This model gives you both control and agility.

For example:

• Use contract Functional Consultants during the initial implementation

• Transition to perm Business Process Owners or Internal Systems Analysts post go-live

• Retain key partner resources only where value is still being delivered

Aim for long-term ownership by internal staff, but don’t rush perm hiring before the full picture of ERP support needs is clear.

4. Use Workload and Bottleneck Indicators as Your Scaling Signal

Rather than waiting for burnout or delivery delays to trigger hiring, watch for early warning signs:

•Repeated project delays from one or two resources

•Excessive reliance on partner consultants for basic process questions

•Teams spending more time firefighting than actually planning

•High volume of support tickets post go-live with no internal triage function

These aren’t just teething issues, they’re indicators your team needs to grow or change.

5. Post-Go-Live? Build a Scalable Support Model

After go-live, your ERP needs shift from “project mode” to “run and improve.” But too many organisations scale down too aggressively. This means they are cutting support staff or disbanding delivery teams too early.

Instead:

•Retain knowledge through documentation, handover, and internal champions

•Hire a small core team (ERP Analyst, Change Manager, Support Lead) to own the system

•Create feedback loops to feed improvement ideas into an ongoing backlog

If ERP is treated as a one-off project, the business will plateau. If treated as a capability, it becomes a competitive advantage.

Scale with Intent, Not Just Urgency

Your ERP team is the engine behind transformation. Every hire should be tied to a purpose and have clear aims and instructions. Those aims could be accelerating delivery, driving adoption, reducing reliance on partners, or enabling future growth.

Think: “What business outcome does this hire drive?”

Not: “We’re busy, let’s just get another body.”

Done well, scaling your ERP team becomes a major strategic advantage, not just a headcount exercise.

Planning to scale your ERP team? We can help you get it right.

Just fill out the form below and one of our consultants will help you plan out a full hiring roadmap.