Any time an organization embarks on a change to technology there are several important decisions to make. The most important is usually the product, followed by the vendor or in the case of NetSuite the partner to implement your ERP. In this post we’ll explore another critical decision point that is often overlooked: choosing the right internal implementation team.
The post is relevant for NetSuite and any other systems change in your organization.
Once the product and the partner have been chosen, most are eager to get started with their implementation. The driver is usually a financial year end and an eagerness to have a clean financial cutover. By default, the senior level managers of each functional department are tapped to make decisions on the NetSuite implementation. Ideally, they are the most knowledgeable of the processes and day to day operations. However, many times they are also the ones with the least amount of time to dedicate to an implementation.
When choosing the implementation team consider the following factors:
- Who is the most knowledgeable of the processes and day to day operations?
- Ideally the senior leader is the most knowledgeable and in most cases setup the current processes. However, in many cases the senior leader serves a strategic role which is critical to the implementation and at times may not be reflective of reality. Consider adding a frontline user to the implementation team to give current reality. Often, they are referred to as Subject Matter Experts (SME’s). The goal of the implementation is not to keep doing the same thing, the goal is to leverage the tools of NetSuite to fit your ideal processes. Although, without a true ground level truth, the initial NetSuite configuration may not meet the current reality. By adding a frontline member, you gain:
- Insight into process issues to address with the team or through system.
- Understanding of outlier use cases to consider during User Acceptance Testing.
- Buy-in from the team ultimately using the system.
- Time
- Many times, senior leaders are pulled in many directions and the most precious commodity is time. One of the most common factors to push out a Go Live date is time. Someone on the implementation team doesn’t have the time to complete their tasks and/or adequately test functionality. In the most successful implementations, there is clear alignment between the senior leader and the subject matter expert at the time of documenting requirements. Alignment early on frees up the senior leader from the day to day tasks and allows them to focus on other initiatives and most important, leading the organization through change.
- Data Evangelist
- Data, data, data! There are very few people that can truly say they love data. In previous posts we’ve discussed the importance of clean, accurate and relevant data. When choosing the internal team select a person on the team to own the quality and relevance of the data. Often, data is rushed together and later revised. A dedicated team member makes a big difference to the quality of implementation data and adoption by all users.
- Champion
- An implementation champion can be anyone on the team. The role serves as a change agent responsible for:
- Addressing fears of change
- Setting expectations
- Consistent and clear communication of timeline
- Escalating and advocating issues
- Encouraging team members
If you’re considering NetSuite, are in the middle of an implementation or need to redo your implementation or need NetSuite customizations reach out to Concentrus. We’re happy to help!
