Most organisations have invested a large amount of money, time, and resources into Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) to increase and optimise ERP usage in their business.
These ERP investments form the backbone of the organisation’s business activity.
A successful ERP strategy increases business agility, enables process automation, and reduces cost. But is your ERP system being used to its full potential?
Integrating an ERP strategy is the first step to achieving a plethora of improvements within any business, but there are many risks to improper implementation.
If your employees lack confidence in your ERP system, they are more likely to find ways to work around the technology rather than work with it.
A lack of awareness or knowledge about the benefits of using the system can lead to errors and misuse, possibly even decreasing efficiency and costing the business more in the long run.
Here we take you through steps to increase and optimse ERP usage in your business.
Increasing ERP usage in your Business
For the implementation of your ERP system to be successful, employees at all levels of the organisation must be confident that using the software will benefit them.
If management is not invested in the ERP system that is being adopted, it won’t get the support needed during the early stages of adoption.
If employees see that management is not supportive of the ERP system, they will be significantly less likely to put the system to use in their daily activities.
Key steps to increase usage of your ERP system
1 – Involve everyone from the beginning – Ensuring that employees understand why the new system is being implemented will not only increase the likelihood of adoption, but it will also give you the opportunity to gain insight into challenges that each department faces, allowing you to tailor the system to the specific needs of your company.
2 – Demonstrate the Benefits – People are naturally hesitant to accept change. In order to smoothen the adoption of the ERP software, you must directly show your employees how it will benefit them in the long run. You should demonstrate clearly how it assists them with their workload and efficiency. One practical way to do this is to showcase examples of best practice from individuals within the department, or business unit, who are using the system to improve business operations.
3 – Include only what is needed – ERP software is customisable, with plenty of third-party add-ons available. Make sure that your ERP software only includes what is needed to function properly, without random extras that ‘may be useful one day’. Keeping your ERP software simple and straightforward will save time and money in the long run, while increasing usage and confidence quickly.
4 – Proper training – Regardless of how straightforward the software may be, you should always ensure that everyone who uses it is fully trained to utilise every function to get the best results. Failing to train your employees will result in a loss of faith in the new system from the outset.
5 – Measure adoption over each phase – it takes time to implement an ERP system. Measure the adoption of the software after each phase of the project, and provide support to ensure everyone is using the system to its full potential. You should also ensure that the C-suite and management are leading by example and filtering down adoption to their respective teams.
For more information about how optimising your ERP software can increase adoption in your company get in touch.
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