“Well trained cloud migration teams meet nearly 90% of their business and project milestones, compared with less than 50% of milestones met by cloud migration teams with only ‘average’ skill level.”
“75% of well-trained teams that use cloud-based enterprise applications (finance, supply chain, HCM, etc.) report improved workflow compared with 55% of teams that are not well-trained.”
“82% of organizations with well-trained teams report satisfaction with the speed of adoption of new functionality compared with 60% of organizations that are not well-trained.”
Source – IDC 2017
The Journey to Sustainability – is it a utopia?
Organisational objectives for an ERP implementation are many and varied. There are however a number of common threads which are directly related to the success of end-user training and engagement. These included:
- Operational Efficiency
- High-Quality Data and Reporting
- Effective and efficient System Support teams
- Low impact System Evolution
Achieving these business goals will maximise the returns on system and user investment as well as ensuring the continued development and evolution of the system in a streamlined manner with minimal impact on the business.
The ability of an Organisation to be Self-Sustaining in terms of its system support is a key factor in the success of this endeavour. This is not just a cost-saving exercise, the process of developing a self-sustaining workforce embeds the skills required to effectively utilise a system at the point where it can do the best; in the User Community. Teams that have the confidence and skill level to solve the majority of queries about a system without recourse to central support teams will experience:
- Increased Productivity
- Faster resolution of issues.
- Increased satisfaction with working with the system.
- Improved attitude towards the system.
- Greater tolerance of system updates.
They will also be better placed for the planned succession for Super-Users/Power users.
The 4th bullet point is often missed off a list of desirable outcomes. It is however critical to the ongoing efficiency of a system. Teams who speak kindly (or at least not unkindly) of a system will generally adhere to prescribed business processes, tolerate minor system issues and be more productive than those who spend their time talking it down. They are also more likely to provide an efficient and effective introduction to new users, reducing the drift away from approved processes.
The Fudgelearn journey consists of 5 steps. Note that not all steps will apply to all users but will normally apply to the organisation as a whole.
- Step 1 Analysis and Alignment – Understanding the Training Needs/Methods and gaining Stakeholder Engagement.
- Step 2 Promote User Engagement – Defining an effective communications program to drive business engagement.
- Step 3 Increase Personal Confidence Levels – Develop a targeted training offering aimed at increasing confidence.\
- Step 4 Develop System Competence – Providing system focused training that drives competence.
- Step 5 Create a Self-Sustaining Support Environment – Putting in place the mechanisms to support self-sustainability.
- In our experience, the organisations most likely to successfully adopt complex ERP solutions are those that have:
- aligned Senior Management Stakeholders at the early stages of the change program
- agreed change plans and structures
- built effective communications strategy into their plans
- placed a fully integrated training program at the centre of the end-users journey into the new system
Is self-sustainability a utopian state? Not in our opinion, however, it takes a good deal of planning and management to ensure it happens.
Header photo by Justin Luebke on Unsplash
