You’ve reached the finish line of a long system implementation. The appetite for change has been exhausted, and project stakeholders are ready for a well-deserved break.
Not quite.
A system implementation is an ongoing journey, not a single event. In a lot of ways, the new system is just the start of a larger transformation journey. There are a series of post-go-live activities that are critical to ensuring the longevity and success of the implementation. Getting this phase of the implementation lifecycle right is make-or-break for ROI and impact.
Why Post-Go-Live Matters: Extending the Utility of Your System
The post-go-live phase of an implementation is where companies really begin to see the fruits of their labor and investment. The full potential of the system comes into view as more employees are transitioned onto the platform and legacy processes are modernized.
It will still likely take years to recoup the full investment, but the ROI snowball is gaining momentum. To maximize this time period, focus on these activities:
- Talent upskilling for human capital efficiencies. Some tasks or staff responsibilities may be redundant in a new system environment, so it’s important to use their newly available time wisely on other key tasks. This can take many shapes but might include enabling finance and accounting staff to work more collaboratively with FP&A or IT teams. It might also mean more training to allow impacted staff to become champions or owners of the new software rather than just users.
- Tech support for stronger adoption, fine-tuning, and troubleshooting. System implementers and advisory partners should still be on hand for a period of time to support beyond the official cutover. Users will naturally run into issues with navigation or bugs, and they will require time to become fully acquainted with the new system. System enhancements, administration, and cleanups may also be required as part of post-production activities.
- Communication, change management, and training materials. Post go-live, change champions and leaders throughout the business must continue to reinforce best practices and model the behavior they expect when using the system. This might entail weekly or monthly email updates, rolling office hours, 1:1 sessions, and helpful guides on how to efficiently use the system. Making these materials self-service is even better, as it can help get more users into the system faster and with less support needed.
- Continuous process improvement and automation for scalability, user experience, and process design. As the system comes online, there’s a lot of opportunity for feedback loops and new releases. It will take time for the process architecture and technology architecture to work in cohesion and best serve all users’ needs. After go-live is when many of these new requests, process changes, and lessons learned will bubble to the surface, which should be cycled into the next iteration of system updates. Likewise, process documentation should continually be refreshed as needed.
- Evolving AI capabilities. Today’s finance and accounting systems are constantly working to embed AI into common workflows to promote further efficiencies and labor savings. Some of these features may automatically be added to the system, while others may need to be opted into. Meanwhile, staff must be retrained on how to appropriately leverage AI. As AI adoption is only expected to proliferate, it must be top of mind for any system implementation.
- Additional integration opportunities as technology landscape evolves. In many cases, the implementation timeline doesn’t allow for a full scope of features originally requested. After go-live, however, there’s an ongoing need to integrate with other business systems, add more modules, or explore plug-ins or other enhancements as needs evolve. Without a strong integration strategy, the new system will become siloed, leading to inefficient, risky data movements. As the business and its tech stack evolve, the new system can benefit from a continuous reassessment of integration opportunities.
- Future-state controls design, optimization, and testing. As the technology stack evolves and workflows are reconfigured, there’s potential for new risks and data integrity issues to be introduced. Manual and automated internal controls must be updated to reflect new responsibilities, processes, and threats to best support audit, compliance, and reporting requirements. Learn how a financial services firm saved time and money on report creation with CrossCountry Consulting’s proprietary implementation methodology.
Winning Post-Go-Live
By appreciating the magnitude of the post-go-live period and bringing a holistic approach to the full implementation lifecycle, today’s organizations can maximize the benefits of their ERP and finance/accounting systems while reducing risk.
To realize long-term implementation value, contact CrossCountry Consulting.