Jonathan A. Ifechukwu

"Most discussions of decision making assume that only senior executives make decisions or that only senior executives' decisions matter. This is a dangerous mistake." - Peter Drucker It's been said no two projects are the same. I'm subscribed to the ERP-Focus reports and I have found a lot of their write ups very useful reference materials while consulting for clients. While implementation methodologies are often a product of or a hybrid between the vendors methodology and the customer in-house methods for project management. However the application of the methodologies is usually influenced by other factors such as the customers needs, budget, timeline, organizational maturity and prevalent culture within the organization.

I will highlight a few but profound lessons I've learnt from recent engagements:

LESSON ONE: Process automation is a big deal! It takes time, often cost a lot of money, demands a lot of resources and can be disruptive to businesses if not planned well and ahead! Where an organization has never implemented an ERP or any solutions on the scale of an ERP, it is bad practice, riddled with a lot of risks, to plan, select and implement in the same financial year. While twelve months looks like a lot of time, it is not when it comes to a poorly planned ERP implementation that often extend to two years or more in some cases. So my advise is simple. Plan at least a year ahead!

LESSON TWO: Executives and those responsible for transformation initiatives are often eager to achieve set milestones for good reasons. A couple of reasons could be the obvious implication on their careers and also where the implementation has impact on the strategic positioning of the business in the market place. While money is assumed to be available, the question that is often taken for granted is whether the organization has time and resources to dedicate to the initiative. My advise? Don't rush the project in the name of "adding to your list of achievements", make time for it!

LESSON THREE: Another aspect that is often neglected is the place of stakeholder engagement or organizational change management. Interestingly, only few executives understand the importance of change management when it comes to transformation programs. Many see it as something that needs to be set up only when there is a project. Others think it's an unnecessary waste of time and money. Research has however shown that the price of such neglect is steep for organizations! So my advise is simple: (1) the management of change should be a culture in organizations and not be seen as something that should be set up because of a project or a program. (2) Never underestimate the effort and resource required for a successful ERP implementation - get expert advice.

LESSON FOUR: A school of thought suggest getting a third party vendor to implement where the software vendor doesn't do implementation. Some have suggested having a tripartite agreement where the software vendor selects an implementation partner. The cache is that signing a contract with the software vendor does not guarantee the vendor's implementation partner will deliver in the right quality, on time and within budget. So my advise is that beyond visiting customer sites where similar implementations have been done by the implementation partner, the customer should ensure the software vendor's implementation partner submits a detailed project plan with verifiable resource allocation which should then be incorporated into the overall project work plan.

LESSON FIVE: Technology adoption are strategic initiatives underlying a broader business strategy. As an enabler, technology will only deliver its true value when employees are engaged enough to understand the long term objective, and empowered to do their jobs. So executives should ponder on the following questions: (1) Why do I want to automate my processes? (2) Do I have the right talents and teams to sustain the change in my organization? (3) How are innovative initiatives in my organization cascaded down to the employees, do they own the vision? (4) Does the culture to realize and sustain this vision exist? (5) How is employee engagement measured and managed within our organization?

While these questions seems out of place, since we are talking about ERP implementations, these are actual organizational capability gaps that confronts you as you engage executives, managers and other personnel during transformation engagements. While they provide opportunity for more consulting work, the real danger lies in its ability to nullify your return on investment (ROI) projections.

Please feel free to add your contribution from engagements, comments and questions to this piece.

Jonathan A. Ifechukwu

Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex 2K followers 500+ connections

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