You are the Problem, Not Your Systems! Part 1

I’ve heard it time and time again, “We are not getting our return on investment from “XYZ” enterprise system, so now we are looking at other options. Well guess what… everywhere you go, there you are!

It’s time to stop, drop, and take a close look at your processes and users.  What you might find is that:

1. You haven’t adequately trained your end users. Your users don’t really know how to use the system. Oops, tell me it ain’t so!!! How can that be? We all know the importance of training users. Let’s take a look at that! Why don’t they know how to use the system? Have you not provided adequate training and support for them? Did you do a “one and done” training? Did the training and change budget get cut because the project went over budget? Well, how weird is that?
2. Your business processes have evolved by default instead of by design. The ugly face in the mirror here is that you didn’t manage your processes. Maybe you didn’t have overarching governance, so you did the best you could. Maybe you made your sub processes better, but made it worse for others. Maybe it’s not your fault. But guess what, the whole company is impacted. How would you know? Well, your processes are inefficient, have too many manual steps, too many interfaces, and if you ask your users, they will give you an ear full; and you should listen!

If you do not get your arms around your business processes and the users who play in every single step in those processes, the new bright shiny system that you migrate to may fall to the same fate as your previous systems.

Next up… Part 2, how do you know what’s your fault, and what’s the system’s fault?

Be sure to check out Part 3 of this series: Will the real TCO, please stand up! where we explore what is included in TCO (total cost of ownership), the hidden (or ignored) costs.