2 posts from October 2009

Q. What turns old, underused, disliked ERP software into the best ERP package ever written?

 A. New ERP software.

I’ve implemented ERP into dozens of businesses over hundreds of sites. I’ve also picked up and tried to fix problem implementations which have come to me by way of acquisition. The one thing that I have witnessed over the years is however much the users disliked their old system and criticised it during the selection of the new ERP, they soon would be lauding its use-ability and proficiency once they were in the process of going live with a new system.

You may often hear that the old system did this in such a way or that you can’t find information on the new system like you can on the old one – a series of complaints that undermine confidence in the new system and can quickly send users scurrying to the old ERP to look for data.

Why does this happen? I’d like to suggest a few reasons – some which are easy to address (in theory) and some that is about preparing your team of users for the new world of their new ERP.

Firstly, no matter how much training that you do it is likely to not be enough! But you must try…

Secondly, the training should not only cover the easy day to day stuff but must include some of the most frequent infrequent events…. What? By this I mean the users will soon become familiar with the regular tasks such as entering orders if there is a high volume. The challenge is ensuring that you identify the events that are not everyday occurrences such as sales returns or the process surrounding mis-delivery.  If you can prepare the users and give them confidence in how they will deal with the infrequent events then they will not complain that they have to rely on a key member of the project team or even a consultant to do in the new system what they could easily do their old one.

 An important thing is ensuring that people understand the overall business process that is being catered for in the software. When people understand the impact of errors on other departments and their colleagues’ workload they are more likely to take additional care when they understand ….

Finally do remember that when people are facing change they do get very nervous. The chances are that they have been using their old system for a number of years and they are very likely experts in that system. It gives them some security (whether real or imagined) about their importance to the company and increases their self esteem. By giving them the new ERP they may suddenly feel very vulnerable and worry that if they can’t master the new system they may be at risk of losing their jobs. Some reassuring words when they ask for the umpteenth time how to complete a form or print a report can certainly help sooth frazzled nerves.

One idea is to give each person in the department a particular responsibility to learn a single ‘infrequent’ process and be master of it. This will address two issues at once. First you will have an expert that colleagues can turn to when such an event occurs and two, you will make each person feel that they have key knowledge that makes them important to the success of the implementation.

Then maybe the new ERP may be the best system they’ve ever used...

Sometimes I sit here in front of the computer gathering my thoughts for another blog and I wonder if anyone is really interested. Well, clearly they are, as a few people have noticed I’ve not posted for a while and dropped me a line to see if I’m alright and when I’m due to post again. Well folks, thanks for your concern and more importantly for your interest.

The reason for the gap in blogs is that we were preparing and then exhibiting at the PPMA show at the NEC in Birmingham. You may recall that we have been appointed as a Partner to Shoplogix – and we were taking the show at the NEC as an opportunity to launch the product properly here in the UK.

As a business we have deep experience in delivering ERP – particularly Infor ERP LN / Baan and Microsoft Dynamics AX / Axapta but we took the Shoplogix product line on as it is absolutely suited to our target market of manufacturing companies.

If you take a look at our Shoplogix webpage you’ll see all about the product there. In short, if you haven’t read any of my previous blogs (and it still surprises me when you do) , (by the way, say hello) Plantnode by Shoplogix is a device that collects data on the status of your production machinery and allows your operators to collect data in real-time so you can improve efficiency.

Anyway we were at the NEC with my now famous Rolling Ball Sculpture which is what I use to simulate a machine (see the Video on Youtube!) and we had a great deal of interest.

I’ve been around ERP and senior IT management for a long time and I know how difficult it is to put a business case together for a serious investment in either large infrastructure projects or complex business systems. What is refreshing about the Shoplogix Plantnode product is that I can draw up a business case in a matter of minutes – it can deliver real improvement in performance and it’s easily quantifiable and I can demonstrate a rapid return on investment (ROI) within minutes.

Having spent years either justifying ERP or auditing other people’s business cases it’s a refreshing change when the document can be so concise. No calculating transaction value or cost to raise a purchase order required.... (though, I do enjoy the intellectual thrust of that).

On a couple of occasions last week I was also able to change some businesses view with a couple of focussed questions – which in the world of ERP I don’t think would simply be possible.

One person suggested that the Shoplogix product was perhaps too expensive for them. Not knowing the price this was quite an assumption – and he was certainly pleasantly surprised when told. The question I asked was ‘Why are you at the show?’ and the answer was (and a likely and probable answer given that is was a packaging and processing machinery show) that they were looking to buy another production line. I asked if they were happy with the efficiency of their current lines – and they said they couldn’t be sure because they didn’t know how efficient, or not, they were now. I have persuaded them to delay a significant investment into a new line until they have established this with a relatively low investment into a Shoplogix Plantnode unit. Likewise a company that was considering moving to two shifts is deploying Plantnode to see if they really need to do this. We reckon that we can improve their OEE from the region of 60% to, a still not World class, 75% which will allow them to delay a second shift by somewhere around 12 months.  A considerable saving and return on their investment.

 If only ERP were so easy to justify!