10 May The Importance of Change Management in ERP Implementation

Change Management is essential in aligning new or updated processes within an organization. This article is specific to the Change Management approach in ERP implementations or any Digital transformation.  

First, Let’s break down Change Management: Change management goes hand in hand with Business Process Review output/deliverables. Once changes whether technical, environment, or people/process driven have been identified to change; a company must apply the changes to the human element of the change. This involves enabling the human capital element to embrace/adapt the change.

ERP / Digital Transformation is all about the habit-forming (muscle memory) in a technology application. This is not an immediate change, but a future change that ultimately go hand in hand with a new system. What happens in between the current legacy system and the new system? How do companies embrace future changes in processes and technology before they happen?

Once a company has identified the required changes for the better of the business or process; the next step is Execution! How do bridge the gap between the new processes and execution of the process let alone the buy in from employees and/ senior management? 

What are the challenges with change management?

• Not understanding the change
  • If change is implemented and employees do not understand the change on how it will impact their day-to day they will fight it off.
  • Users do not have a clear idea of what the overall expectation of the ERP
• Adoption
  • The employees believe they know the process better than what has been suggested as the new process
  • They believe it easier to do it the current (old)  way
• Resistance
  • Team members who are comfortable with the status-quo are most likely to resist change
  • They’ve worked with the current system for a while that they are now proficient in it
  • They believe the new process is slower than the current process
• Disruption
  • The currently do not have enough time in their day to learn a new process
  • Its too much to take on as they are an already lean department 

Here are some tips on supporting change management:

• Senior Management/Stakeholder Buy-in – A MUST!
  • Identified stakeholders and Senior Management be engaged with the core team’s output identified as change
    • Decisions should be same day or by next scheduled meeting
      • This allows the team to see the true commitment of business leaders
    • Putting words into actions – leaders must “walk the talk” as their actions must support their words
• Communication
  • Once senior management/stakeholder “buy-in” to the process change; its important to communicate to the affected business units the value and why the change is being implemented.
  • Constant communication is key, I’ve seen companies publish changes in weekly company email newsletter. Keep employees in the loop of change – This is crucial!
  • Create a communication board for employees to communicate how they are feeling to get a “pulse check-in” of the project
    • Possible options are weekly open discussion meetings to check in or a feedback email specifically for the project. Employees are the ones who will execute the new process and they must be heard with any concerns they may have – this also helps as employees feel that they are being heard/considered and makes for less resistance
    • Another benefit with open communication is that it may bring up missed steps or processes overlooked during making the change
    • Design of Change
      • The process change must be vetted by core team users
        • This can be accomplished via Proof of Concept POC testing
    • Execute Change
      • The process will need to be practiced once it passes Proof of Concept testing
        • This can be accomplished by User Acceptance Testing UAT
• Train, Train and Train Again!
  • Start training as early as possible once a process has been designed/defined
    • Supporting change management via end user procedures updating training materials
    • The sooner the employees can get comfortable with the process the less resistance you will face

Choosing the right independent consultant for your company is important. You need someone who can develop an effective and clear implementation plan designed specifically for your organization’s project. I encourage you to search our other blogs to discover areas to look for in order to have an successful implementation.

For more information about how Scaled Solutions Group can assist you with your ERP Implementation or Digital Transformation, give us a call at (866) 957-8419 or visit us at www.Get-Scaled.com