Business Transformation – KnowledgePath Consulting, Inc.

Category: Business Transformation

Has your ERP become an acquisition line-item?

December 5, 2018December 5, 2018
by Rich Dettinger

“Aptean sells portfolio of companies to ESW Capital.”

Recently this financial transaction hit the news wires. This information was not earth shattering; even mundane in fact. But you may have found it notable if Aptean owns the ERP you have been using to operate your business for the last 20 years; as it is now relegated to an asset in a financial transaction.

At times, industry leaders such as Mapics, Syteline, Made2Manage, Epicor, and others have become targets for either acquisitions or companies looking for a financial life line. Within the ERP industry, there has been a transformation in the ownership model for some time. Products that were once clearly identified have become just one in a portfolio of products owned by an investment firm. The cost of keeping up with advances in both technology and functionality became too expensive to cope with while still supporting an existing base on a legacy product. It is no easy feat to move a complex product with a large installed base to a new technology while offering a smooth transition for the existing customer, so most have not even tried.

What’s the strategy for the new owners of these products? It seems to be to accumulate as many customers as they can (while limiting the investment for support to the bare minimum to comply with technology) and to collect support payments for a long as possible.

If you use one of these systems, you should worry about the potential of your ERP being at the end of its life. The reality is that once the ERP developer stops actively marketing the product, the shades are going down on further development and priority maintenance.

This is a harder reality for companies with a successful history using a legacy system. If things are working, why wouldn’t you do everything possible to keep the product? Unfortunately, this puts you at risk with a false sense of security and a less than efficient ERP system with minimal support

What does an acquisition of your ERP system mean to you?

If your ERP has been acquired, then whether you are aware of it or not, you’ve gone from paying support to get both a help line and new functionality, to simply renting the software on an annual agreement.

And, while work-arounds can be effective for a while if done well, you are only postponing the inevitable and actually doing your company a disservice. On the surface, your IT costs may appear to be stable and the system will appear to support the business, but there is a giant iceberg looming in the future: the cost of status quo.

You may be trying to both prevent disruption and to keep costs lower. The reality is, in fact, that costs have also grown exponentially to keep this status quo. If this is your company, be warned that this not only hurts your bottom line, it hurts your ability to change and grow with consumer demand, which ultimately also hurts your bottom line.

One of the services we offer at KnowledgePath is an assessment to determine the state of your current ERP. This identifies opportunities for improvement as well as the risks of maintaining your status quo, the costs of an appropriate ERP project, and your return on investment.

The Bottom Line

If your ERP has been acquired since you made the initial purchase, it is important to understand what that means for system upgrades and support. Even if you have no immediate plans to replace your system, you can avoid hitting the iceberg if you stay informed and plan now for the future of your company.

Business Transformation

Achieve the value of an agile business

October 29, 2018October 29, 2018
by David Warford

The value of agility in business is clear, but to achieve this, you must take the right approach.

An agile business is able to anticipate market shifts and make operational changes quickly. It can create opportunities, change where appropriate, and deliver value to its customer faster. It’s a company that shares data through enterprise-wide systems integration. A major component of the agile business is modernized technology. This provides data visibility and analysis, which develops sharp reflexes and yields smart decisions across every functional area of the organization.

The people factor in an agile business

While technology plays a significant role, the systems you use are simply tools for building an agile company. They are not what drives agility. The drivers are your people and processes. Even the best technology can’t overcome a weak team and poor processes. A nail gun is faster than a hammer, but merely using it doesn’t make you a master carpenter.

Yes, this is a 180-degree change in thinking from just a few years ago when technology was the very foundation of business operations. At that time software was notoriously inflexible, which wasn’t a problem for standard processes. But every business has proprietary processes that traditional software solutions do not handle well, leaving them with few options.

When such business processes fall into the category of “must keep” a company faces the following choices:

Change the processes to fit the functionality of their current software
Customize their software so they can keep the processes as is
Execute the processes outside of their core systems

None of these options are optimal, yet until recently, companies have been forced to pick what they deem to be the lesser of the evils.

Process and agility

This requirement to make do with a less than optimal technology environment is no longer the case. Companies can now employ process-driven technology, an environment where technology is fit to the processes, rather than the opposite. This one advancement is giving companies the ability to establish and sustain competitive advantage.

The key to an agile business

The speed at which a company can change its processes to take advantage of shifts in the market is a measure of its agility. Companies that make the 180-degree turn, shifting theirs to a well-rounded environment maximizing people, processes, and technology, will not only be in a position to optimize processes today but will assure that they are agile enough to continue to drive the most value from them regardless of how or when the market shifts in the future. Today’s ERP software is ready. You need to ensure your people and process are ready as well.

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Business Transformation

Hiring a consultant? Don’t gamble

September 9, 2018October 19, 2018
by David Warford

Looking for a consultant you can trust is not easy. It was probably painful just to come to terms with the idea of hiring a consultant. Maybe you have accepted that your project is outside the scope of your internal knowledge base, or simply that you just can’t allow the time it will take to use your own people. Regardless, you are faced with a tough question: “How do I find a good consultant?” There is more content than anyone can possiblty read on the subject of choosing the right consultant. This post focuses on just one important part of this decision: to help you spot the good (and the bad) ones so your decision is one of strength, not a risky gamble.

Heart to Heart

Whatever you do or however you find them, collect a handful of prospective advisors and have a talk with them. A very serious and critical talk about who they are and how they work. Whatever project your organization has planned, it requires some level of change. Whether it is a small change or a full transformation, people (employees) are involved. I’m sure you have heard all the statistics about the low success rates of change and transformation projects (they average out at 30% –Standish , Gartner). It’s important to know more about what makes this person you may entrust the future of your company to tick, and if your clocks are synchronized. Also, you need someone with a strong history of successful projects under their belt. Try a question to them similar to the following;

How will you be any different then assigning one of my highly qualified internal employees to run the project?

If they answer by just selling you on their super-duper processes, abilities, success stories, awards received in foreign countries, etc…. I hope you hit the buzzer and say “Next”. Of course, do this all in your head – don’t be rude.

The bottom line is that you don’t need a sales job, you need help. The good consultant answers your question with more questions. They should be most concerned with your company than their sales process. They will help guide you through probing your organization’s problem and need for the project. You should actually get some real and usable advice from the conversation. If they have the confidence and passion to help you and the organization to be successful, they should not be afraid to give away advice. Willingly supplied advice vs. hem-hawing; I know which candidate I would prefer. The good ones, the genuine consultants are willing to walk away from your business if it isn’t the right fit, or if you take their advice and run on your own – or if all the organizations leadership does not support the project. They are there to help you, not scam a new high paying gig.

Teamwork

Bottom line: this project of yours needs to be successful and the statistical odds are stacked against you. The consultant’s experience is one of the primary reasons you are even thinking about using outside assistance. You need to know their success is your success and not just a pay check;

How likely is it that our project will be a success?” or more open ended, “How would you make our project a success?

If you get lost in the answer it may have been full of boil the ocean promises and/or full of pre-emptive excuses to cover possible future failure. Check their virtual briefcase. They probably only have one life vest which is only for themselves… hope you can swim. The better answer is honest and realistic. Does their answer sync with the hard truths that are specific to your organization or even yourself? I myself would like to think a consultant who is not afraid to tell me the truth is willing to “live & die” with me in our decision making during the project.

Risk Reduction

Your project plans to update or transform the business will entail a large amount of change by the people who run the business. Plan on the fact that up to 80% of the project issues experienced will be caused by people. Did your shoulders just slump over like mine? “Dagnabit! employees, co-workers, bosses & leadership“,… are you picturing the probable and painful political issues which come along with this change? Make sure you ask each consultant you interview what they can do help:

Tell me about your experience as a change agent? What can you do to help us reduce our risk Do you have a change management specialist in your company?

This answer is particularly vital. You should hear the consultant talk about the importance of recognizing this as a challenge for any organization. You should also hear something about the consultant’s ability to view the company with fresh eyes and work from a neutral position. This position allows them to state the hard facts and help with difficult decisions, something with which internal stakeholders may have difficulty in coming to terms. The right consultant will reduce the political sensitivities and at times take a bullet for you.

Successful change will be the most difficult part of any project. You want to hear stories about successful change. The consultant should, with confidence, share a story which failed. But they should follow up the failed story with the lessons learned. Everyone has fallen down and skinned their knee a few times, but from those experiences they learn how to not fall, or how not to skin their knee if they do fall.

Stay tuned for other conversations about finding the right consultant for your needs. Next time, I’ll discuss another key question to ask a potential consultant; one that I have seen cost companies a lot of time and money if not asked up front. Please sign up to receive a notification when we post so you don’t miss anything.

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Business Transformation

Does your consultant have an exit plan?

August 21, 2018October 19, 2018
by David Warford

In previous posts, I’ve been exploring some important things to consider as you go through the process of hiring a consultant for your ERP modernization or business transformation. I must admit, there are plenty of soul, and money, sucking vultures out there. But there are also some good consultants too. The consultants who are really more like advisors. The latter type truly want to, and can, make a tremendous difference for companies and individuals. They offer invaluable insight, keep their word about expectations, and don’t promise what they can’t deliver. Some are, dare I say it, even ethical.

When I started KnowledgePath Consulting, I wanted to make a difference, be honest, and be genuine. This is always a priority when working with my clients. I feel honored to help make a difference for a business and its future. Because I strive to be one of the good guys, I have put a lot of thought into what makes the difference between us and the vultures. And my late nights spent pondering the question, “What makes us different?” has become the topics of many of the posts we’ve shared with you here on the blog.

Many of these questions are also the best questions to ask your consultant candidates. But there is one question in particular that I haven’t addressed yet and want to make sure I cover now. Unfortunately, it comes from too many bad consultant experiences that I’ve witnessed when we are called in to rescue failing projects.

You may have had these questions about a consultant in the past:

When will they be done?
What is taking so long?
Oh, I thought they were a full-time employee here; what do they do again?
How can I get them out of here?

If you have not had these concerns arise, then it is because you did a good job developing the contract agreement regarding the “exit plan” up front. I have not seen this mentioned in very many articles on choosing a consultant, maybe because they are usually written by consultants. But I highly suggest asking this question during your discussions. It is as simple as:

**“What is your exit plan?“**

It may feel strange to ask about an exit plan before you have chosen a consultant. But the responses you receive should clearly give you a good gut feeling of which consultant to choose. Is there up-selling involved? Some level of a sales pitch? Or do you receive an immediate “yes, there is an exit plan” followed by generalities and a discussion filled with misdirection designed to make you feel comfortable even though they didn’t actually outline a plan. Again, as I’ve said in previous posts, the buzzer should go off (in your head, not out loud!).

As you ask your questions, listen for something to the effect of the consultant working themselves out of a job. They should give you an idea of their general exit plan, which of course all parties together will customize in more detail based on the project requirements and measures. If they are fully committed to you and your company’s success, they will be clear about what exit promises they can’t yet make and what they can. They understand a successful project sets the stage for a partnership to grow into more of a relationship from which future opportunities will flow their way.

Final Gut Check

As you review your notes after talking with each candidate, here are some points I suggest you pay particularly close attention to and comment in your notes when interviewing your consultants:

Does the consultant possess the right knowledge to support you and your project?
Do they seem transparent?
- Admit lack of knowledge where they don’t have it, or other ‘weaknesses’?
- Give you ideas and free advise willingly?
- Come across as a genuine business partner?
Will the consultant roll up their sleeves and work with the employees within your organization?
Does the consultant sound like they will be a facilitator or a dictator? Obviously, the preference is for the former and hopefully a teacher/coach.
How good a listener was the consultant?
Did they come into the meeting already ‘knowing’ everything, or did they come in demonstrating that they had done their research but knew they had more to learn?
Do you feel they are willing to break the norms… question the status quo?

If the first group of candidates doesn’t meet your gut check, it is okay to find new candidates. Don’t be tempted to treat this process as if you’re hiring a temporary employee which can be replaced at any time. Although it is true that it is a temporary hire of sorts, it is not a seasonal position. This one really matters. You hold the cards, but it does not mean you need to hold on a pair. Go for the full house. Or better. Your organization’s success depends on a quality find.

You will know you have found the right fit for your needs when you find the royal flush of advisors. In that case, you may find it very difficult to want them to leave, and maybe they shouldn’t if their value is so significant. In that case, you may find yourself looking for an exit plan followed by a retainer. But that’s down the road. Work on getting the royal flush first!

Want to back to part 1 and part 2 of this topic. Just follow the links.

Business Transformation

Managing ERP expectations: The story of the hammering pipe…

February 27, 2018October 19, 2018
by David Warford

Moving to a digital ERP environment is hard. It takes effort and time, but the effort pays off. Typically, our blog posts are dedicated to helping you go through the process successfully. This week, here’s a little analogy to help you keep the big picture in mind and focus on why it’s worth all that effort to move into a better system.

You are hired to build fences. The employer will supply the materials and the tools for the job. On the first day, you find your planks, all the nails you’ll need, and a three-pound pipe wrench.

For the first few days, the work is slow. It takes some time to learn how to drive in nails accurately with the back side of the wrench. Bent nails take a great amount of effort to remove as you use the vise side of the wrench to grab the nail and pull. The weight of the wrench makes work cumbersome and tiring. And hitting your thumb with the wrench? Very painful.

After several months, though, you become expertly accustomed to driving nails with the wrench. You’ve found ways to work around the shortcomings of an awkward tool, and your employer observes that your production has improved from 80 boards per day to 100.

One day, you come to work and instead of the pipe wrench, your employer has brought you a new tool to try – a claw hammer. You don’t understand the hammer, and no one has explained how to use it. It barely weighs a pound; how will it generate enough force to drive a nail? Where is the device to pull bent nails? Your boss insists that this is the tool of the future.

You try it for the first week, and your production falls back to 90 boards per day. You’re having trouble getting used to the lightweight nature of the hammer and seem to be missing your mark more often. You hate how clumsy you feel; you especially hate that you’re hitting your fingers more often again. You start to yearn for the familiar comfort of the pipe wrench. Ignoring the early problems, you focus on a few positive gains. You have discovered that the claw grabs bent nails more effectively and extracts them with less effort. Your arm isn’t as tired swinging the hammer by the end of the day. And, in time, you’ve adapted to the new weight, and your accuracy and speed have increased. Your production reaches 130 boards per day.

This is how any ERP transformation will feel for your workforce. It demonstrates why it is important to set everyone’s expectations early. Your legacy system has become a bulky tool. Your staff can get their jobs done, but it often requires brute force to work information through the system. You will have employees who will prefer to keep the legacy system not because it’s perfect but because they understand how to work around the drawbacks in order to meet production goals.

Learning the nuances of a new tool can be frustrating to employees who don’t want to see their production tail off under any circumstances. In addition, they might focus on the problems that don’t go away – “nails” still get bent and “thumbs” occasionally get hit.

Manage Expectations

I will leave you with two thoughts to help manage expectations throughout your project. First, help your workforce understand it is part of the process to hit a temporary valley while everyone works through the learning curve of a new ERP, but you will work to flatten this curve. Secondly, communicate that the new ERP will help minimize frustration as well as maximize productivity and agility, so there will be fewer big changes in the future. Small changes will become the norm, and your workforce will no longer live in fear of the next new tool smashing their thumbs.

Business Transformation

Are requirements enough?

February 26, 2018October 19, 2018
by David Warford

The value of process mapping before an ERP purchase

In rare situations, a company can successfully choose an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system on technical requirements alone. However, for most companies, the decision to incorporate a new ERP into an organization should be a piece of a larger plan that includes process mapping – it shoudn’t be the lone goal.

In a previous post, we referred to companies who, unintentionally, “bought the demo”, where several features of a new ERP resonated with an organization’s current processes, but the new system did not solve many existing problems.

When an organization decides that their ERP system is no longer keeping up with the company’s ability to execute its goals, this becomes an opportunity to take a full-scale look at the business. Think of it as the difference between taking your car in for an oil change and going in for a tune-up. An oil change is a maintenance activity to make sure everything can run smoothly, similar to authorizing a software update for your current ERP. With a tune-up – which occurs far less frequently – more systems are checked for operating efficiency.

An ERP implementation isn’t solely about making sure information flows through your organization properly. It’s also about making sure that production flows efficiently and positioning the company to work from a place of agility – which translates to a place of strength.

Take the time to do it right

Take the time to map your current processes. What are the steps that you have to take from start to finish for order entry through order fulfillment; from product conception to marketable item; from prospect to customer? How does information flow through those processes, and how do your employees interact with it?

Discuss the pain points that come from those processes with your workforce. KnowledgePath consultants have witnessed many a-ha moments with our clients during such discussions. Often, many of the “normal” tasks employees perform are the result of work-around solutions to your current ERP. They’re not trying to take five steps to perform a simple task – their current tool has boxed them into spending fifteen minutes to do what feels like should only take five.

The benefits of this exercise – while time-consuming – offer a large return on investment toward understanding the inner workings of your organization. Regarding the primary objective of securing your next ERP, you will begin developing a thorough list of product requirements you need to see from ERP vendors, which increases the chances of you choosing the best system for your needs the first time.

Identify important gaps

You can identify the information gaps in your current system. “I would like to do Process A, but without Information B that seems impossible.” In the real world, that can sound more like, “When I need to drop a rush order into production, I would like to be able to rearrange the schedule with as little impact to other deadlines as possible. Currently, I use my best guess based on experience, but a scenario analysis tool would make the decisions go faster with fewer errors.”

Mapping your processes is also an opportunity to help minimize issues associated with change management. A new system will be simultaneously exciting and stressful. If you’ve involved your front-line employees in the process of identifying your needs, then you have given them a voice in the process and a greater sense of buy-in.

Finally, if this exercise seems logical but the thought of going through a digital transformation is intimidating, then consider this: what I have described above is a big part of a successful digital transformation. Digital transformation is simply moving away from unnecessary manual and paper-based processes. Mapping out what you do now will allow you to step into a better, faster, and more agile method of doing business, and that will make you more competitive into the future.

Business Transformation

What exactly is Digital Transformation?

February 20, 2018October 19, 2018
by David Warford

…and does it really apply to me?

Companies replace or upgrade ERP and other business systems for a number of reasons all the time. But for the past few years, new terminology has been sending waves of fear and wreaking havoc upon CEO’s sense of order. One in particular is Digital Transformation. This post should help clarify what it is and help bring the terror level back down.

Digital Transformation sounds big. A full overhaul of unknown computer technology invading every facet of the company comes to mind. You may envision everything taken over by computers. What was once just science fiction is about to materialize throughout your very own workplace. The elements that once made your company unique reduced to a line of code somewhere in the system.

It’s not like that.

First things first, digital simply means “in an electronic system instead of on paper.” Basically, it is the elimination of unnecessary manual work.

A quick history of ERP system functionality

In the days when ERP came to the forefront, functionality in business systems grew at a manageable pace. Systems were upgraded much more often than they are today. Upgrades were less challenging because the systems were not all that pervasive to the overall functionality of the company. In the meantime, the basic technology behind the functionality began to expand. Since Y2K, basic computing power and capability has grown exponentially. Business system developers began to exploit what new computer power allowed them to do for both processing speed and user interaction. Because of this new power, upgrades grew so pervasive that changes became more traumatic. This was not only because they were touching more areas of the company, but because they ultimately still used the original technology, and realistically, this technology was no longer able to keep up. At the same time, business was demanding a change, something that first took hold when automakers forced companies to go to EDI, insisting they would not work with companies unless they could transact with them digitally.

Today, ERP and other business systems no longer manage just accounting and planning- they touch everything. A well implemented business system should impact nearly all areas of the business, but this is good because it allows streamlined access to information.

The opportunity you have with digital transformation is to move the entire enterprise forward through a change to a powerful and integrated system. The potential for improved profit, market growth, and customer satisfaction is all in play. The difference today in our digital world, is that this is not only a change in what the system does. It is also how the user is able to do it.

Now, about here you are probably wondering how this post is supposed to lower your fear level of a transformation like this. So, consider these three points.

First, any ERP replacement or even any business system replacement at all is now digital. So take digital out of the panic list because…

Secondly, we already live in a digital world, so extending that into our daily business lives isn’t as frightening as it feels. Think of ordering Starbucks on your phone. For many it is second nature, but it would have taken much more effort just 5 years ago and was unthinkable 10 years ago. Now think of business tasks in the same way. You can create a report, and it will integrate a terabyte of data in minutes with digital technology, whereas it might have taken a day or even a week of combining spreadsheets to get a comparable result.

Finally, the transformation doesn’t have to be done all at once. Many companies will have you in panic mode immediately by discussing the enormity of the project. Digital Transformation can (and usually should) be done incrementally as any ERP replacement would be done. Just make sure you start with a solid base of the right due diligence up front.

Set the project up the right way

Develop your business case and roadmap. Create the vision. Use this base to find the right software to fit your needs. Then you can take small steps toward a bigger transformation at the level of change your company can manage. Using this well-defined roadmap, you will be able to grow and adapt over time with the same system.

In the end, Digital Transformation is really no different from past changes you have made as a company, except these changes will last longer, be adapted to faster and better, and provide more value than you have probably become accustomed to. If you think about Digital Transformation as a business system change that simply offers better options as you need them, your expectations will be much more in keeping with reality.

Business Transformation

Generation Z and Change

February 10, 2018October 19, 2018
by Bill Lewis

When working through major organizational change, barely a blip on anyone’s radar is Generation Z.

The oldest of this generation (born between 1999 and 2010) is just now entering the workforce, so it seems unnecessary to worry about whether they can let go of a business’ old way of doing things. However, it would be foolish not to consider their ability to unlock the positive potential of implementing continuous improvement initiatives well past the completion of a major project.

In previous posts, we have discussed the change management strategies associated with four other generations of employees as it relates to an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation. Generation Z represents one of the smallest bands of employees you have, but over the next decade it will be your fastest growing group and will occupy many of the front-line and support positions that keep a company moving forward.

In the short-term, it’s not unusual to be concerned about whether they can handle change. After all, there aren’t that many of them, they occupy jobs where employees are easily replaceable, and as a result, they haven’t built much credibility to offer a voice to their concerns. In the here and now, that’s not a resume for a great asset. So with this group, you should look more toward the future.

They’re still in learning mode

Anyone you’ve hired recently who just finished figuring out your current system is going to be naturally frustrated at the prospect of learning yet a new system. Generation Z will be less frustrated in that they’re not far removed from their formal education and are still in rapid learning mode. On top of that, consider the relief they might feel when a new ERP essentially levels the playing field inside the building. Suddenly, many of their older coworkers are feeling as awkward as they are. If your core team handles this situation the right way, it is an opportunity for generations to bond and exchange knowledge across generations that will ultimately benefit the company.

Tech is the norm, not the exception

Generation X grew up during the proliferation of gaming platforms and early versions of the personal computer, and they made their parents feel dumb with how quickly they adopted the technology and ferreted out the nuances of the programs. Millennials did the same as they grew up with the Microsoft suite of products as common tools.

Now consider Generation Z.

They’ve been putting together PowerPoint slides since elementary school. While Generation X might point at their smartphone and think of it as a cell phone with extra capabilities, Generation Z looks at the same device as a hand-held information processing device that opens up a window to the world and as a side benefit allows you to speak directly with other people (though why do that when you can text?). If you want to get the most out of your new ERP, then you need to find a way to give Generation Z free rein to explore. Ideally, you want all of your employees to look for better ways to work, but this is the generation that will take the greatest advantage of it. As you’re setting up your ERP, pay attention to your company processes for sharing knowledge. Once you have a good process in place, make sure Generation Z knows how to make good use of it.

Channel their social behavior

Sharing information is what they’re primed to do. They start with the mindset of transparency. Building on the previous idea of setting up continuous improvement protocols, consider internal message boards and training wikis as tools to have so that employees can talk about things they’ve discovered within the system or to collaborate on troubleshooting. Several ERP vendors are setting these up among their customers. It could be that your Generation Z employees are among the most apt to be able to establish internal social media platforms for your business and encouraging coworkers to make use of it.

The bottom line is that you should start preparing for Generation Z to be a major force in your business over the next decade. The faster you can reap the benefits of their imaginations and tech-savviness, the quicker you will transform your youngest employees into unique company assets.

This post wraps up our series on generations and change. Stay tuned for a full summary download available in the coming weeks.

Business Transformation

The Traditionalist and change

February 3, 2018October 19, 2018
by Bill Lewis

Think about the oldest and the youngest employees in your company and how they work. Do they approach work the same way? Probably not. They won’t approach or deal with change the same way either.

In the last few posts I have discussed Change Management as Risk Management around generations in your workforce; you will mitigate your risk significantly when you address change successfully with your people. Since change happens at the pace of the individual, how do you help hundreds or even thousands of people change effectively in your organization with up to five generations working within any given organization?

Last time, I wrote about the Baby Boomers and how to help them experience successful Organizational Change Management (OCM). Today, I’m discussing the oldest generation currently in our workforce: the Traditionalist.

The Traditionalist

Born before 1945, many in this generation have retired, but not everyone! This generation has seen more significant change in the world than any other group, and younger generations often dismiss the idea that Traditionalists will be willing or able to change in their work environment. By extension, younger generations also tend to dismiss the value that Traditionalists bring. But, it’s amazing how a little information can change that thought and help people work together.

Here are some generalizations about the Traditionalist (keeping in mind of course that these are generational themes and don’t define every individual):

They believe the top-down approach to leadership is the most effective. They trust their leaders to know where the organization is going and what needs to be done to get there.
Based on this trust of leaders, they may not require significant detail or depth of explanation on the change initiative as a relates to the overall strategy.
They respond to an emphasis on transition.

So, what do you do with this information? Here are a few quick thoughts to help the Traditionalist make a successful change, so they can make a valuable contribution to the changes ahead.

First, present the vision and make sure that it is communicated from the top. This should be part of any change initiative, and there is no exception here.

It is very important to validate the work the Traditionalist has done in the past. Acknowledge the value they have brought and then help them separate from the old way of doing things. Create safety in the uncertainty of the in-between. A roadmap is helpful here. Show them point A to point B and what the road can look like in between. It can take the fear and guesswork out of the fuzzy middle when everything seems in an uproar, and it may feel like the direction is lost.

Include Traditionalists in your project teams. This will make them be part of the change while positioning the company to benefit from their organizational knowledge. They have knowledge and a background that is missing in the younger workforce. Traditionalists were often there when certain company cultures were formed or remember which mistakes were made during previous transformations. If they can be reminded that they have this background and expertise so to speak, it will help them see that they still have a place in the changing environment.

One quick note to keep in mind on this point: because change of this significance is always hard, it is a common occurrence for those with longevity in your company to become vocal naysayers. When they have seen a lot of change through the years, they will most likely have examples from the past of a similar initiative that failed. While doubt is understandable, it is important to remind everyone that you will learn from those failure points. Doing so will acknowledge the past and the Traditionalist’s experiences. Then encourage your team with the present reality: much has changed in the past few years alone. Just because something was a failure in the past should not dictate its preoperative demise. You will need to strike a balance between bringing in the value of learning from the past and preventing a derailment of the project over a naysayer perspective.

In some cases, a Traditionalist may choose to work on the periphery of the project because of retirement plans, however because of their knowledge and first-hand experiences, it is important to involve them in the change you are seeking for your company. Doing so not only allows you to capture valuable and often undocumented knowledge, but it also means they won’t feel left behind- something which is unfortunately a common situation in the face of the ever-changing workplace of today.

Remember, change with your ERP modernization or transformation will only be as successful as your people who work there, so give all members of your workforce the opportunity to be part of the change.

Next time, I’ll complete this series on generations and change at the other end of the generation spectrum, Generation Z. Sign up to receive notifications when we post, so you don’t miss anything.

Business Transformation

ERP transformation is about more than technology

January 13, 2018October 19, 2018
by David Warford

If you’re considering replacing your Enterprise Resource Planning ( ERP ) system or applying a major upgrade, take a step back and look this project as a part of a larger business transformation.

One of the major reasons organizations replace their current ERP is because the legacy system is not holding its value. It can be a hard pill to swallow, but the reality is that what was cutting edge in 2008 is flat out antiquated in 2018. Employees are creating workarounds in order to do their jobs because their ERP was suited to a bygone business environment. Systems on the market today have better functionality that allow businesses to run leaner and more efficiently.

Improving the technology at your disposal is only part of the solution. Even if you can’t go through a full business transformation at this time, replacing your ERP is an ideal time to take a close look at your business practices and your personnel. It will make the replacement more successful and lead to additional improvements for overall company value.

Map your processes

Learn what you do and why you do it. Define your starting point by taking the time to have your people walk through all the steps and decision points that go into their day-to-day operations. You need to do this anyway in order to help you identify requirements for the next ERP, but the exercise creates the added value of documenting processes that have only been communicated through tribal knowledge. People from different departments gain a new perspective on how their work affects someone downstream. It is not uncommon to hear something such as “I didn’t know you did all that” between two people whose tasks were side-by-side in the process flow. While it would be natural to assume everyone talks with each other, the reality is that most people will simply do what they have to do to get their jobs done without discussing the bigger picture with coworkers.

Identify the pain points

Once you’ve identified the current state of your processes, let your workforce speak candidly about where the established process and technology are holding them back. These are the pain points of their jobs. Assembling this list will allow you to prioritize what needs to be fixed. Some of the problems are not technological; therefore, a new ERP won’t fix them. However, the awareness of the issues that are technology-based gives you the ability to shop more efficiently for the ERP that is best-suited to your needs. This also give you a list of needed improvements around the non-technical process flows.

Imagine the future

Don’t settle for a system that replicates what you already do. If you’ve just gone through the exercise of identifying the flaws in your current system, the last thing you’ll want is to purchase something that reaps no real value to the company. It’s a surprisingly common mistake to make because people lean toward technology in their comfort zone no matter how unhelpful that is. You likely can’t fix all of the pain points with a new system, but it will be better to set improvement goals off of the deficiencies you can fix with a new ERP. Maintain that focus to help your team look for the established gains you’re hoping to achieve and less on negotiating the learning curve that comes with utilizing new tools.

Assess your people

Even if it goes smoothly, the implementation of a new ERP will be disruptive. Focus on the opportunity to reset your succession planning. Before the project even starts, you’ll need to determine who your subject matter experts are in order to work on requirements gathering and process mapping. This is the time to evaluate which of those people are in sole possession of critical knowledge and how vulnerable you are if any of them leave. As training and implementation begins, you need to be ready to recognize there will be employees currently buried on the company depth chart who are ready to take a leadership role because they have the aptitude and willingness to utilize the new system to its fullest potential. There will be others who will need more coaching to make a successful transition. It is important to identify these people as well. Success of a new system is dependent on success of the individual to use it correctly.

Strongly consider bringing in an outside consultant

An experienced consultant can guide your company through these early processes. They can lead your people through the mapping process and compile the findings into a coherent Request For Proposal package for prospective ERP vendors. With their experience through the ERP implementation process, consultants are in a good position to identify key assets throughout the workforce. They can recommend early adopters and other employees who will contribute to the success of the project and identify the people in the organization who are prone to working against progress. Consultants are also able to keep the project as a whole on track and on time — such as master data cleanup and change management initiatives — that will get the implementation off to a running start and avoid timeline disruptions at the very beginning of the project.

In the end, no matter how far and wide you can take a full business transformation at this time, keeping these points in mind during your ERP replacement or modernization will maximize the value of the work you do now and set the stage for more value into the future.