Culture eats ERP for breakfast
Whether it’s apparent or not, your culture and your ERP are profoundly entwined. Find out how you can take advantage of this in a way that supports both your people and your technology.
Arguably, culture has become one of the most important aspects of international companies. Today’s employees are no longer content with a good salary and basic benefits; they want to know they will be able to thrive in a healthy, supportive work environment with great colleagues and capable, accountable leadership.
That environment also includes smooth, collaborative work processes and technology that improves information flow, reduces costs, links with suppliers, reduces response time, and stays relevant and competitive.
How should your ERP support your culture?
Your ERP solution should provide all of this and effectively coordinate the instrumental actions within the business. This helps convert your company culture into one that’s supported by technology. The technology is a crucial tool for empowering employees to do their jobs better and more efficiently, boosting morale and building on the company culture.
How should your culture support your ERP?
When you implement an ERP solution, you are fundamentally changing the way people work. One of the greatest challenges a company can face is migrating from a culture of disconnected silos and disparate systems to a fully-integrated, cross-company technology platform. Effective change management is critical to ensuring the implementation process goes smoothly and that it recognizes and respects the company culture and the cultural differences present throughout the organization.
Company leadership, along with your ERP implementation partner, should involve business users in the implementation process, getting their input and guidance along the way. That helps build buy-in of employees during the process. When the solution nears launch, it should a priority to train users. That makes them more comfortable with the system from the start and helps them understand more fully the benefits of it, both to them and the business.
Through effective training and change management, your organization will achieve greater levels of efficiency, and your ERP will be the stepping stone to the next chapter of your company culture.