Tier1 Performance There are unique challenges to driving adoption of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and other information systems. On one hand, use is generally compulsory since core company functions and transactions sit within the ERP. On the other hand, it’s challenging to achieve adequate proficiency at Go Live, let alone achieve target returns on investment over the long-term.
ERP implementations are unique in that failure to implement successfully can have disastrous effects on productivity, revenue, customer experience, customer trust, and more. A bad Go Live can bring an organization to its knees with no quick or easy fix for complex issues that are not always easy to diagnose. Every ERP implementation impacts productivity at Go Live, but how long it takes to get back up to base level productivity can be positively impacted by investing in people readiness from inception of the project.
Let’s dive into a few areas of people readiness discussed in Why People Readiness Matters for Systems Adoption and look at how to best address them in an ERP implementation.
Many companies undertaking an ERP implementation find simplicity and convenience in engaging the implementation partner to also lead the change and people readiness efforts. It’s a trap! There is a natural and inherent tension between system readiness and people readiness, with various parts of the project team vying for time and attention from Super Users, workstream leads, business process leads, and others. When the implementer is handling both system and people readiness, the system always wins – and people readiness suffers significantly.
That’s why it’s best practice to engage with a third-party partner to help lead the people readiness side of change. Change leadership during ERP implementations involves a lot of risk identification, as well as nudging and influencing senior leaders on how to best support the project team and the implementation. External perspective can be invaluable here. When the change team is staffed only with company employees, they might lack the confidence to influence leaders and tenaciously tackle tough issues until resolution is achieved. They can be more susceptible to subtle, sometimes unconscious pressure from others to “back down” or let risks go undocumented or unaddressed.
Leaders generally support ERP implementations and help to secure significant funding and allocate resources. They help tell the story of why to the board and to employees, sit on the project steering committee, and can be counted on to travel to impacted locations for roadshows and other events designed to drive employee awareness, understanding, and buy-in.
When the rubber hits the road, executive leaders in particular must understand the vital role they play in managing the tradeoffs that come with implementing an ERP system. Here are some key things executives can do to support a successful ERP implementation:
Deprioritize competing initiatives and investments.
If there’s one mistake we have seen time and time again, it’s failure to commit enough people to the Super User role, or failure to enable Super Users to fulfill the role adequately. Typically, Super Users are end users who are not part of the project team but are heavily involved in the project (designing processes, recommending system functionality, ensuring solutions work for their locations/functions, defining change impacts, learning the system ahead of everyone else, etc.). They are expected to fulfill the Super User role as an allocation of their time both during implementation as well as post-Go Live by providing support to end users.
Every Super User has a day job, too, and competing priorities happen every minute of every day. But it’s critically important for leaders and managers to understand the role of the Super Users and create space for them to engage in the project. The choice is to pay now or pay later; the more the business can invest in Super User proficiency and project involvement, the smoother their Go Live will be and the shorter the time to competency will be.
Implementers, project teams, Super Users, and business stakeholders often get impatient with the need to document role-based change impacts across all in-scope functions and business processes. Yet this is one of the most critical drivers of ensuring people readiness. Just as every bit of data needs to be successfully migrated into the new system with precision and detail, so changes must also be proactively communicated to the right people prior to training.
Best practice is to leverage Super Users extensively in this process, from identifying end user impacts to communicating those impacts to end users with context. While the change team typically leads this effort, Super Users are the subject matter experts and facilitator. The business must actively and fully participate in the change impact process. (It’s also a great way for end users and Super Users to learn quite a bit about new business process and changing tasks prior to training, which in turn reduces time to competence at Go Live.)
Training is most effective when end users walk into the classroom, webinar, or eLearning course knowing what to expect. This is not the time to unveil role or task changes—that should be done well in advance of Go Live. Prior to formal hands-on training, leverage walk-throughs, demos, and other types of “show me” events to help people envision the end solution. Engage Super Users in delivering these sessions to improve their knowledge and leadership capabilities.
Things can get pretty confusing the first several weeks after an ERP Go Live. As end users apply what they learned in training for the first time on the job, the new process often doesn’t work quite as expected and unanticipated system glitches or bugs pop up. Teams can avoid a meltdown if a thorough support structure is put in place before Go Live.
Your support structure should consist of many components, including the mobilization of your Super Users to be positioned as the “first line of defense” answering their teams’ questions. A War Room or Help Desk staffed with both system and process experts should also be in place to address any questions that Super Users cannot handle. These strategies can also be supplemented by a self-serve job aid repository. The goal of a strong support structure is to solve user problems and lessen their stress levels so they can focus on getting the job done.
Nearly all systems adoption projects involve challenges that can’t be foreseen at the beginning, and it’s particularly true during ERP implementations. Build buffers into your project timeline and expect things to take longer than planned. When you anticipate this shift, there is much less stress and angst when it takes a month or two longer than planned to be truly ready for Go Live. Also, don’t forget to leverage project leaders and your change team to nudge and influence the project at all levels. Effective change teams put together the scaffolding of support needed, then adapt and adjust as they move through the project lifecycle.
ERP implementations are one of the most challenging types of systems adoption initiatives out there. It’s not a mystery why, if you consider and anticipate the people factors at play. Never skimp on the investment in people readiness—you’ll simply end up paying for it later.
Brandee Abel is a Managing Director and Strategy Activator at TiER1 Performance. She loves helping companies drive successful change programs and learn how to be more effective drivers of change in the process. When she’s not leading change, Brandee loves running half and full marathons.
Jenn Archila is a Senior Solutions Change Consultant at TiER1 who creates practical solutions to complex organizational issues. Jenn loves to take lots of information, complex strategies, and hairy problems, and synthesize them into an actionable plan that can make real difference in an organization.
Ralph Huser is a Principal at TiER1 who shines as a change leader for large system implementations. Ralph has extensive experience in change management, organizational design, process improvement, and learning strategy. He loves thinking of creative change strategies to help organizations really move the needle.
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