Happy 100th – Big Edition
It is hard to believe I have reached this milestone, 100 editions of my regular newsletter. For those of you who have been with me for the whole journey, I thank you for staying with me and I will be working hard to ensure I continue to bring you great ideas and value. For those of you who have recently subscribed, I sincerely believe you will get value from the thoughts, ideas and proven strategies I share here and employ on clients’ sites. Deployed correctly they have the potential to dramatically improve your business performance. I look forward to delivering the next 100 editions for you.
If you know of anyone who would benefit from receiving this information on a regular basis, please share this newsletter with them and let them know they can subscribe on my website. For subscribing they will receive a free copy of my ebook, “The 14 Deadly Sins of ERP Implementation”. Peer reviews have said:
“I just finished reading David Ogilvie’s book “The 14 Deadly Sins of ERP Implementation”. This was one of the best books I’ve read in a long time!”
“I think this is a must-read for any CEO or senior executive at a company thinking about implementing an ERP system. As the author keeps stressing: implementing an ERP system is like open-heart surgery and is one of the most critical projects a company will ever do. It’s important for senior leaders to be actively involved in the process.”
“It was a pleasure to read because I could identify with all the issues that the author brought up. It’s obvious that, not only has he been in the trenches and experienced all these issues, he also understands their root causes and how to prevent them.”
“Only about 15% of ERP projects are successfully implemented on time and within the allocated budget. Also, the consequences for a botched implementation are high in terms of money and reputational risk. The wisdom in this book can dramatically improve your odds for success.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF CONTINUITY
Back in March, a client I was working with decided to suspend a key transformation project that involved the implementation of a major ERP system due to the real and perceived impacts of COVID-19. As the actual financial impacts of COVID become obvious they made the decision to restart the project. While there had been plenty of warnings and cautions given to the executive team about the consequences of not moving quickly, the board continued to take significant time to actually make a decision. The end result was people from both their internal team and the vendor’s team had moved on to other opportunities. This loss of personnel has had a dramatic impact on the company both on a project timeline and clearly from a budgetary perspective.
Having continuity of personnel in a project environment is critical. On this occasion, the company has lost almost ALL the knowledge built up in the four months the project had been operating. They are essentially starting from scratch and have, unfortunately, lost (read wasted) that investment they have made to date. Finding the right people for the project is a critical step and being able to keep on the project is another.
THE IMPORTANCE OF EXPERIENCE
While we are on the topic of who is on your project, there is one critical piece of your software vendor due diligence that you really do have to put the effort into. Many clients ask vendors for the CVs of the consultants they intend to have work on your project. I recently had one major vendor provide CVs of people they intended to have on the project. They were very glossy and well-designed documents filled with smart logos, some details on module certifications the individual had received and clearly been through the corporate design studio.
Problem was, there was no detail in the document around what specific experience each individual had, any indication of where the individual had gained their experience and absolutely no indication of the project type, industry, or success or failure. It told us nothing. We were not able to establish whether these individuals would be valuable to the project or not – something I cover in more detail in Chapter 8 of my book.
THE FACILITY OF INDUSTRY TEMPLATES
As regular readers would know I often spruik about the poor success rate of ERP projects. In an attempt to bypass or overcome this reputation and to make ERP sound easier, many vendors are touting industry templates, fast start deployment options and other “schemes” that do not sound as intimidating to the prospective client. They are trying to make ERP sound easy. And it can be … if…
If … you remember the causes of ERP failure are generally not technology-driven, they are human-made. I am not saying don’t use them if your vendor is suggesting them. What I am saying is fully understand what conditions they come with. Nothing is free and nothing is easy without effort. Remember our very best sportspeople make things look easy because they have put in the work. ERP is similar. The only difference is you need your people to be the ones gaining the knowledge and not the vendors.
It will be a rare situation where you will have a competitive advantage over your competition if all of the industry adopt these so-called industry templates.
True independent advice can provide:
- An honest point of view
- A proven methodology
- Knowledge of what questions to ask and an ability to put the vendor under pressure to prove their statements of capability
- Support to executives so their risk is minimised
- Experience with how best to leverage your ERP investment into profitable behaviours within your business
If you or anyone you know is looking:
- To improve the way their business operates
- To improve the way they leverage their current system
- To replace their current system
give me a call for a confidential discussion on the best way to achieve this.
Until next month …
Sincerely,
David
© David Ogilvie