Nowadays, software is an indispensable part of our everyday life. Whether you shop online, send a text to your family or friends or just watch TV. Software is always there. Software is being developed to make our daily lives more pleasant and it evolves faster than we can blink our eyes. Of course, this also applies to ERP software; this is developed to support your business and to facilitate growth. The ERP vendor is therefore increasingly a business partner instead of a regular supplier. Your business is constantly changing and you must be able to act quickly upon the market demand and your business partner needs to help you with this. We develop software that grows with your company. To achieve this, there is one very important condition; make sure that customizations are limited to the minimum. Because for software with customizations the dialectics of progress apply. It is potentially the best solution for now, but already outdated three times within a month!
Lost in space
Last week I spent an evening watching the new series 'Lost in Space' on Netflix. In this series an expedition is started to a new planet, similar to Earth, to continue the existence of humanity. Then I realized that a re-implementation or a migration to a new version of a software system is quite like this in many ways. In 2018, developments follow each other at such a high pace, both in terms of technology and business, that a re-implementation or migration to a new version is a much larger step than it was in the past. This requires a different approach and a different mindset.
Adapt to evolve
Our Earth will still survive for at least hundreds of years, despite climate changes, increasing air and water pollution and the threat of wars. Perhaps there are other planets, similar to Earth, in the universe that can be inhabited by mankind. This will require a certain degree of adaptability in the beginning, because the living conditions are completely different. Nevertheless, it may be wise in the long term to undergo these changes. Instead of hundreds of years, mankind can evolve on the new planet for tens of thousands of years.
Are you willing to change?
Before you get on board of the space shuttle you need to make the conscious decision to accept the changes. This is also the case during a re-implementation or migration (Change & Acceptance phase). After a ride full of new experiences, it is time to land on the new planet. The landing (Go-live) is always exciting and it can be a bit of a bumpy ride. After all, you do not land on a new planet every day. Once you have arrived you will have to get used to the new conditions and circumstances. This takes some time, differing per person how long (Adaption phase). Then you want to colonize and develop the new planet (Evolution phase). This goes gradually and in certain time periods (Timeboxes).
In theory, our mission is not much different. We want to help our customers to grow and evolve their business. For this we do not use hi-tech space shuttles, but we use our software as the tool to help our customers.
Teun Arts is Service Manager at Dysel and it is his job to ensure that customers make optimal use of the software, now and in the future.
