ERP Change Management

ERP Change Management Consulting

Your business depends on your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. Changes to your ERP system can significantly impact your technology and processes, but the greatest impact is often on your people. Adapting to ERP system changes can be difficult for employees, as it requires individuals to change the way they do their jobs. That’s why a well-planned Organizational Change Management (OCM) strategy is crucial to ensuring ERP project success.

Keep your people and ERP project on track with these OCM best practices:

• • Determine the right change management sponsorship model. Projects with complex changes and potential resistance require strong, visible sponsors throughout the course of the project. ERP projects tend to bring about a higher degree of change, making the need for active and engaged sponsors that can champion the project crucial to success.

• • Keep your stakeholders apprised and involved from the start. Your stakeholders control the systems and processes impacted by the change, making their feedback and support very important. Keeping them informed will increase adoption and equip them with tools to become effective sponsors.

• • Find advocates on the project and the client team. Your advocates are key to encouraging adoption among those who don’t want to change. Finding advocates who are trusted within the organization will greatly increase project credibility and buy-in.

• • Communicate constantly. With everyone – your sponsors, stakeholders, technology teams, users, etc. You need to know the expectations of the ERP system, how each group feels about the change and whether there’s a clear understanding of how to use the new system, among many other things. Getting consistent, direct feedback from all groups will enable you to gauge OCM strategy effectiveness and identify new needs.

• • Assess, reassess and plan ahead. Leverage feedback to change your OCM strategy and approach as needed. Are there still individuals who oppose the change? Maybe additional resources are required or project sponsors are not as visible as they need to be. Assessing and reassessing will ensure you’re able to course correct and overcome barriers as they arise.

• • Involve change management early. The likelihood of success drops significantly when change management is brought on later in the project. Collaborating with the project team from the start ensures a more complete picture of the project scope and impact, allowing for the development of a sound OCM strategy that accounts for all potential challenges.
  • Invest in your people like you would your technology. There’s no way around it – you will never get the results you want out of your ERP system without investing in your people. You must be intentional about helping your people successfully adopt new technology and processes

The greatest overall contributor to project success is active and visible sponsorship, as discovered every year by Prosci’s benchmarking research on change management.¹

According to Prosci’s 2016 benchmarking report, projects with excellent change management are six times more likely to meet objectives than those with poor change management.²

To ensure your ERP project is set up for success, AXIA has developed an OCM for ERP Success Toolkit as part of our OCM solution offerings. This toolkit has the specific methods, deliverables and best practices needed for managing change while implementing ERP. It covers the entire program – from blueprint, through CRP, UAT and implementation – taking the guesswork out of how to best integrate OCM into your ERP program. In addition, the flexible OCM for ERP Success Toolkit fills in the gaps present in many technology-focused ERP methodologies.

AXIA OCM Solutions Offer Support at Every Stage

The AXIA Organizational Change Management practice focuses on helping the people side of your business adapt to organizational changes through tailored strategy, training, communication and counsel. Whether implementing a new ERP system or making changes to an existing application, we work collaboratively with your project teams, sponsors and stakeholders to help minimize operational disruptions and maximize change value. With an average of 20 years of experience in business, technology, change management and process efficiency, our Prosci-certified consultants know what it takes to successfully implement change to meet your business goals.