Within any organization, communication streamlines complex and coordinated action. The left hand, as they say, knows what the right hand is doing and that is particularly important if you have more than just two hands. Multiple departments, dozens or hundreds or thousands of employees, all must be kept informed, directed, and communicating statuses, needs, and general information as easily and quickly as possible. Naturally, the same communication principles hold to partners outside of the corporate fold. In implementing or upgrading an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, for instance, your chosen ERP consultancy and your company must work as closely as any two departments within your company to accomplish the technical task as smoothly as possible. Toward that goal, you and your ERP consultancy had better be on the same page about the implementation/upgrade process.
KEEP ERP DISCUSSION ON THE SAME PAGE
Minimizing downtime is one of the major challenges in any ERP adjustment or replacement. With an ERP system so vitally tied to your daily business functions, some of your employees are going to be twiddling their thumbs at some point in the process. Knowing how much downtime department by department and when allows for managers to make creative use of otherwise dead time. Whether its office team-building or a clean-your-mounded-desk day, downtime can be useful…so long as you know when its coming.
Obviously, the other upside to you and your ERP consultancy communicating clearly about the process schedule is that departments can get their ducks in a row. Whatever prep work may be needed by a given department can start efficiently and quickly as well as any last-minute invoices entered, order changes executed, and so on. Communication about the ERP implementation process can make every aspect less of a pain, less of a drain, and that’s better for you and for your customers.
And we can’t pretend that your customers (and vendors) aren’t going to be affected. Delays in your business processes means delays in products and services reaching your customers and payments reaching your vendors. Having a clear sense of when those delays are coming and how long they’re expected to be means you can communicate with other parties outside the company and keep them in the loop. People can put up with almost anything…if they’re kept informed.