You’ve selected a finance and accounting system that will generate transformative enterprise value. Implementation is underway but it’s quickly evident that progress is too slow, the project is more complex than anticipated, and reaching the finish line seems like a mirage.
So how do you course-correct?
State of Play: Assessing What Is and Isn’t Working
Many companies approach systems implementations with an outdated mindset. They lift and shift, automate bad processes instead of fixing them, and otherwise attempt to save time and budget. But what’s convenient in the moment ultimately causes long-term frustration, delays in go-live, cost overruns, and reduced transformation ROI.
To accelerate time-to-value and avoid common pitfalls during implementation, consider:
- Re-prioritizing transformations: If there are concurrent initiatives across the business, it’s time to re-evaluate if too much is happening at once and re-prioritize what’s most critical. For example, standing up a financial reporting capability is a compliance must-have, which should take precedence over nice-to-have functionality.
- Taking a holistic view of the entire project lifecycle: Even standard implementations of ERPs can take 12-18 months. Throughout this timeline, there are opportunities to accelerate progress, including pre- and post-implementation. So even if you’re behind right now, it’s important to step back and look at the project holistically and re-dedicate resources accordingly. Don’t get hung up on tunnel vision and believe that pushing forward is the only path.
- Investing in change management: Technology implementations are also people projects. Stakeholders and users must be equipped with the training, communications, and resources they need to drive successful adoption. An implementation advisor can build the change management infrastructure needed to deliver ultimate success and positive user experiences, ensuring faster go-lives and time-to-ROI. This dedicated change management resource frees up an internal stakeholder from having to take on this role in addition to their daily responsibilities.
- Embedding the voice of the customer: System implementers may be hyper-focused on checking boxes and reaching implementation milestones at the expense of understanding what you’re truly hoping to achieve as it pertains to your business’s unique needs. If there’s uncertainty about whether the technology will deliver on the desired transformation or whether it’s actually serving the needs of your users and customers, it’s imperative your voice is heard early and often in the process. This will ensure the human experience is always accounted for. Sometimes asking the question, “What do we want from this journey?” can help ground the conversation and better align the implementation moving forward.
- Leveraging Finance/Accounting BAU support: When employees get pulled in as implementation support, they must either divert attention from their day-to-day responsibilities or double up their capacity, neither of which are ideal options. Business-as-usual (BAU) support from an experienced implementation advisor enables experienced staff with critical knowledge to dedicate time to the project to get it done faster and fully understand the new technology, while their routine finance and accounting tasks are handed over to industry experts in the interim. It’s a win-win situation.
Getting the implementation on track is easier with the hands-on expertise of an implementation advisor who works directly and collaboratively with your team and the system implementer. As part of this relationship, additional components to a finance or accounting system transformation are factored in that may otherwise not be appropriately addressed. This includes:
- Chart of Accounts redesign for streamlined, more accurate reporting and visibility.
- Core finance process improvement, from Record-to-Report, Order-to-Cash, Procure-to-Pay, and more.
- Controls design or testing to ensure people, processes, technology, and data are governed strategically to minimize risk.
- Flexible, scalable data architecture established and governed by a data CoE.
- Cyber and compliance at the forefront of the conversation.
- Business continuity considerations as systems and processes shift over.
Delivering on Expected ROI
During the implementation, stakeholders need the ability to re-forecast timelines, budgets, and resource utilization on the fly to keep management apprised. The need may also arise to adjust to an implementation approach that’s better calibrated to events on the ground, such as an incremental module-by-module implementation, even if it wasn’t originally planned. Ultimately, it’s an evolving lifecycle that requires adaptability, and it won’t always be a linear process.
CrossCountry Consulting’s expert transformation management and implementation support methodology enables Finance, IT, and third-party vendors to see through the fog of transformation and generate the best result – on time and on budget.
Contact CrossCountry Consulting for end-to-end implementation expertise in your next transformation journey.