The business consultant is your main sparring partner for optimizing and automating business processes. Someone with whom you want to build and maintain a good relationship. But improvement requires change. And that produces confrontations!
You are confronted with everything that is organized ineffectively and inefficiently
A good business consultant will not blindly accept your organization's current way of working and then automate that way of working. You should start with another step: take a critical look at how the processes are organized and where they are ineffective or inefficient. Your business consultant will tell you where things are going wrong and how they should be done. This is necessary to take your organization to the next level. This leads to confrontations. It is not easy to change the way of working that you are used to, that you feel comfortable with and that you have mastered. This will lead to spirited discussions and create resistance among employees. But the new way of working is the first step toward improvement.
Changes in processes, in software and changes for your people
New business processes, new work instructions, new software; it brings a lot of change for the people in your organization. And that takes getting used to. You have to properly guide that from management. Make people see that the changes are actually improvements. Help them understand the changes. And show what benefits it has in their daily work, e.g. in the form of time savings. Confrontations are bound to follow between the business consultant and employees who don't want to go along with the change. You can certainly expect an empathetic attitude from the business consultant, but don't count on the changes being reversed. Everything is about making the organization more successful, and that is achieved in part by implementing and managing the changes.
Checking that things are going well and a critical eye for adjustments and additional solutions
The business consultant does not disappear from the picture after you have implemented the new way of working and are live with the new software. Checking that processes are running correctly, observing bottlenecks and areas for improvement, and implementing optimizations are all crucial after the go-live. For all improvements, adjustments and extensions that you suggest, the business consultant will look at the Return On Investment (ROI). Purchasing a new module? - What will that accomplish? Change a process? - Why is that necessary? Develop custom functionality? - Why can't you work with the standard? At one time it may feel like you're up against a wall of reluctance, but that attitude is there precisely to keep you from unnecessary investment and trouble.
The business consultant is not there to please you and become your best friend. He or she wants to make your organization more successful. And that means you'll end up diametrically opposed and having spirited discussions at some point. There are bound to be times when you are completely fed up with the business consultant. But then consider that this is better than an ever compliant business consultant who doesn't achieve the improvements you need. Once you realize that, maybe you'll become good friends after all....
Ab de Kwaadsteniet is Senior Lead Consultant at Dysel and assists customers in Europe and North America in improving operations and successful use of ERP software.
