“Change management determines ERP implementation success” may be the most-ignored advice in the enterprise technology realm. That doesn’t make it any less important.
ERP offers significant business advantages — but only if it is widely adopted. And that means CIOs and other leaders must prioritize people.
“Particularly in this cloud era, people issues seem to be one of — if not the — most important factors in the success of an ERP implementation,” said Kathie Topel, director of organizational transformation for global consulting firm Protiviti.
Indeed, the human factor can make or break an ERP implementation — and far too often, it’s the latter.
What is change management?
The Association of Change Management Professionals defines change management as “the practice of applying a structured approach to transition an organization from a current state to a future state to achieve expected benefits.”
In simpler terms, change management is what leaders, managers and others do to prepare and help employees do things differently — such as adopt a new ERP system — or to ease them into changes such as organizational restructuring
Customize Best Practices
Whatever strategy CIOs and other leaders choose, it’s important not to take a generic or cookie-cutter approach.
“Don’t make change management a set of [generic] best practice communications, meetings and project protocols,” said Lisa Anderson, founder of LMA Consulting Group, a consultancy specializing in manufacturing strategy and end-to-end supply chain transformation.
Instead, leaders can create a customized strategy of how each stakeholder can support the business objectives and get people on board, Anderson said.
Published in Tech Target on Sept. 11, 2020