How to Plan for an ERP – Web Integration

When looking to enhance or adopt an ERP system, merely telling employees and expecting adoption can be narrowly focused. For someone in the organization, possibly an entire department, their day-to-day activities will change. There will be changes in business processes, job responsibilities, customer interactions; managing this change cannot be left to chance.

Having a plan can help your team slowly adapt to these changes and allow for a seamless transition. It can also help to ease the anxieties departments may be feeling. Coming up with a plan can be difficult, and that is why we are sharing four tips on how to internally plan for an ERP – Web integration.

1. Manage from the Top Down

Before embarking on any digital transformation project with your ERP system, ensure every person on your leadership team buys into it. This will help position the project internally with leadership stakeholders and align internal communication throughout the organization, creating excitement and kick-off for positive adoption.

2. Identify Internal Project Champions

The earlier you share the change, the more time people have to adapt. It’s essential to have some positive project champions to start spreading the word and creating excitement for the launch. Your champions are not always going to be on the project management team; however, they can be connected or are communication leaders in the organization.

3. Start Early with End User Benefits

Sharing the value and end-user benefits early in the project will accelerate the adoption on launch day. You can do this by hosting short informational sessions at weekly huddles or monthly town halls. These small actions are vital to the integration process and result in higher launch adoption.

4. Build Training into the Schedule

Training the end user might seem like common sense; all too often, this critical stage is either assumed or rushed. When you plan your training sessions, identifying the end-users strengths to maximize the sessions, provide reinforcement and ensure they understand, you are setting the stage for success. If possible, hands-on training in a sandbox environment is ideal and reduces anxiety. This will also build confidence in the end-users for when the system goes live.

Integrate Your ERP System into Your Website

Your ERP and digital properties are not a set and forget post-launch. It is beneficial to schedule regular workshops and sessions with customers and employees to consider how the system is working and what could use improvement or increase productivity.

When considering an ERP-integration, get buy-in from every person on the leadership team, find early champions to spread the word, build internal excitement, share end users benefits early, and plan to train your team (not just once).

At Treefrog, we pride ourselves on helping organizations launch ERP-to-Web integrations, walking you through the entire process while applying these four principles to your organization. Let’s talk, human-to-human, we would love to share how.