Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to sit down (technically, via video conference) with an actual business process consultant and discuss how companies migrate to a new ERP system in the real world. Elisa Bertelli (LinkedIn profile) is a Deloitte consultant based in London, UK, and has several years of experience consulting various companies through their ERP migration.
We started off talking about some of the first tasks she usually does with clients during the beginning of a project. “First we look at all of the business functions, all the business departments – sales, finance, production, human resources. And then we interview them on what their daily tasks are. We try to piece together the operational steps involved in the various tasks that they do. Then once we understand the steps, we can then find where the processes can be improved.” So, say if a tasks usually takes ten steps to complete, the consultant may present a new process that only takes four steps. “Because the main goal is to make the tasks take less time, which saves money and resources for the company.”
“After the mapping, we [then] use industry benchmarks as a comparison of how long a certain process should take. Deloitte, and all consultancies, have a repository on industry leading standards and practices, which we refer to in order to make a recommendation of which ERP system is best suited for the client.”
As far as the types of ERP systems used, “sometimes it mainly depends on the industry of the client. Oracle tends to be suited to financial companies while SAP serves manufacturing quite well.” But interestingly, an enterprise can end up using different software for different functions. “For example, a company may use SAP for the back end, while in their front end use a more flexible system – one that is more of a niche system to handle specialized operational needs.”
When it comes to the common challenges or roadblocks when advising clients on a new ERP system, I had expected something along the lines of accurate information gathering during the interviews. Instead, it’s “resistance to change: many people see change as a threat.” The people who usually performs the every day operational tasks are not the ones who decide to switch to a new system. Plus, many have been doing their jobs for a very long time. “In this case, we bring in our Change Management (a dedicated team that helps people with change) to work with the people and reassure them about the new methods and systems.”