ERP software supports the entire company and also aims to take the organization as a whole to the next level. To achieve that, as a user of the ERP system, you must also think in the interest of the entire organization. It is not about you or your department excelling, but about performing optimally collectively.
Why is it hard to think outside one's own department?
It is quite explainable that employees within the organization sometimes do not look beyond themselves or their own department:
- We all look at how the ERP system supports our own daily operations; great if the company benefits from the software, but you certainly also want to make your own tasks easier and do your job to the best of your ability.
- You are judged on how you perform your individual work and how you perform together with your immediate colleagues as a department; therefore, it makes sense to look at how you can improve that very thing using ERP software.
- You are the expert within the company in what you do and what your department does; you know exactly what the ERP software should facilitate for the role of you and your colleagues and are less able to assess what other departments need.
Consciously or unconsciously, we do not always think in the best interest of the entire organization during an ERP implementation. You may only analyze processes from your own perspective, you may place less value on improvements that the system brings to colleagues in other departments, or you may only pay attention to your requirements and wishes when creating documents and reports.
Why do you need to think as one company?
If everyone in the organization is working hard for the requirements of their own department and making sure the ERP package supports their own department properly, then it's fine, right? Unfortunately, no. In fact, many issues facilitated by the ERP system extend across multiple departments. For example, consider:
- The process of selling a machine, involving the purchasing, sales, finance and sometimes service departments.
- Creating uniform outgoing documents, such as invoices, quotes and order confirmations, which all departments want a voice in.
- The use of one or more reporting and business intelligence tools, which can benefit many departments, but each department will also have different requirements.
Suppose your company both rents and sells equipment. A customer who sometimes buys something from you and other times rents something from you must feel that he is dealing with the same organization. If the rental department has completely different processes/reports than the sales department, you are not showing that you are one company. The departments in your organization should not be separate islands fighting for their own interest. In that case, the true potential of the ERP system will never be realized. ERP software enables you to grow as an organization, but you will only succeed if you also operate as one organization.
What role can management take in this?
The management of the organization can strongly influence that during the ERP implementation as much as possible is operated as one team:
- Select project members who have the willingness and skills to think outside their own department and help decide what is best for the entire organization.
- Facilitate a working atmosphere that encourages mutual consultation between departments, listening to each other and understanding the other.
- Assess involved project members not on how well they get their own department automated with the ERP system, but assess the entire project team on how the ERP package brings benefits to the organization, creates more synergy and promotes collaboration between departments.
- Remain involved as an umbrella department, request periodic reports on the project from each department and check for adequate alignment.
Luuk Busschers is a Consultant at Dysel and helps customers achieve their goals by deploying industry-specific ERP software.
