ERP Readiness Series: Post Implementation Support and The Importance of Finding “That One Person”

This is the last in our ERP Readiness Series on “people readiness.” Before we move on to examining your business processes, we take a moment to look for that one person, post-implementation, who is going to become your in-house ERP point person.

That One Person

Most businesses have them. That one person who has a lot on their plate but seems to always say yes to more, that one person that people rely on when things don’t go quite right. That one person who gets the job done reliably and on time. If they haven’t been discovered already, an ERP Implementation will expose who that one person is. That one person will become crucial to your organization after you go live with your ERP system.

It is really important to make sure you have a post-implementation point person. Depending on the size of your organization, that may be more than one person. However, even in bigger organizations, one person emerges as the in-house, post-implementation ERP expert. Because these persons are found in-house, we typically find one or more functional experts on the Core Team stepping into this role. Less frequently, a subject-matter expert or someone in the IT department becomes the post-implementation ERP point person. Usually, however, it’s a functional expert by virtue of their role on Core Team.

Generally, the functional experts on the Core Team typically go back to their day jobs after implementation is complete. Their experience on the Core Team leaves them with an additional level of experience they didn’t have before. They may now have some project management experience, they may be better at business analysis, they may have new programming or other technical skills; on top of which, they’re still the functional experts they were when they started.

Post-Implementation Support

As a result, these functional experts continue to play a critical support role within their department and cross-functionally as the organization continues to optimize the ERP implementation, particularly in the first year but even beyond that. This person will continue to be the bridge between your organization and the solution provider, or value-added reseller. They will make sure that as you optimize, you’re doing so in a cost-effective way.

The critical point to take home for small companies is to make sure you end up with an in-house ERP point person by planning for it ahead of time.

1. Form the Core Team knowing that someone will have to emerge as the functional expert of the ERP system and nurture that person throughout the implementation process.
2. Communicate to the team that having a point person will be a long term need of the business and find someone that wants to step into that role.
3. Finally, reward that person if they are successful by compensating them for their newfound skills and experience.

Mid-Sized Companies

For mid-sized companies, this may require that a new role is created. During implementation, you may have outsourced a project manager, a business analyst, or a technical analyst. In the long term, you don’t want to rely on outsourced resources and will likely need to hire somebody internally to provide post implementation support. Again, often find that mid-sized companies find someone from the group of functional experts on the Core Team to hire into this role, that system thinker, the process improvement thinker, someone who really has an affinity and a passion for playing this role. Unlike in small businesses, that person is pulled out of their prior functional role (which is then backfilled) as they move into the accounting or IT departments.

Do you have that one person on your team who can become the expert of your ERP system? Do you need help hiring one? Contact us.

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