Change is inevitable, but change doesn’t have to be painful. Change can be an opportunity for your employees to rise to full potential and expand possibilities for positive growth.
“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”
– Socrates
When considering a change in business software, such as a new ERP implementation, there are two main focuses – rapid deployment and a fast return on investment (ROI). Exact Macola has provided a new white paper on the Top 10 Steps to Higher Profits and Easier ERP Implementations, which you can download here, but there were three main points which stood out that we want to share now: conducting a Needs Analysis, Gaining the Commitment of All Key Stakeholders, and Training & Technical Support.
Needs Analysis and Business Process Assessment
There are many moving parts and processes in a manufacturing or distribution company and not all ERP systems are a best fit to support your business’ particular needs. A Needs Analysis will determine the current and future systems needs for operations, sales, administrative, marketing, and finance departments. They find out how they will fit together with the important objectives and budgets already determined. Understanding how and why your business is run a certain way makes the process of moving these manufacturing jobs into an ERP system simpler, quicker, and more effective.
A Business Process Assessment (BPA) is one step further than a Needs Analysis. A Needs Analysis may only take a couple of hours and is a simple overview of the current processes of the business. A BPA, however, may take several days to complete and allow for a full understanding of all the current processes and needs, as well as possible ways to improve the them.
Gaining the Commitment of all Key Stakeholders
When considering a change in ERP or other business softwares a manufacturer or distributor will partner with an ERP reseller to select the right software and implement the new system. In a small to medium sized business, resources are already stretched thin and many employees take on more responsibility than their job description, so there may be a temptation to expect the ERP reseller and implementation team to take on most if not all the responsibility to successfully implement your new system. Expecting superior results with outsourcing all the responsibility is not a winning combination. It’s necessary for a business to dedicate a budget as well as internal resources to support the change initiatives and ERP implementation. Talk to your ERP reseller to determine how much time your internal team will need to dedicate to the project.
Training & Technical Support
Training and technical support safeguards the investment made on the ERP implementation. Here at The Attivo Group, we provide custom training guides and video, as well as live training to all key employees so they can hit the ground running when the new systems come live. The live training will go over everything, however, research shows that we can only retain about 10% of new information given in a day, so the training guides we provide throughout your system is imperative to insuring that the new systems and processes are used. This leads to higher profits as employees embrace the new system and processes.
Start Your ERP Implementation on the Right Foot
Wondering what the other 7 steps are in the Top 10 Steps to Higher Profits and Easier ERP Implementations? You can download the free white paper right on our website.
In this white paper from Exact Macola you will learn how manufacturers can leverage ERP software to:
- Reduce operating expenses
- Surpass the competition
- Achieve measurable increases in workflow efficiency
If you’re considering a new ERP implementation please contact us for a free Needs Analysis, so you can start your project on the right foot.