Or why it is not widely adopted
Finance and Purchasing Functions are among the most digitised in companies, due to the massive introduction of ERP software over 30 years ago.
Indeed, with such a need for reliable data, the Finance Departments were the first to benefit from digital tools.
Research and evaluation of markets and suppliers, negociation, billing, supply management, document traceability, automated dashboards… Digitalisation has helped simplifying processes, rationalising costs and lead times, and automating low added-value tasks to release time for value-creating activities such as innovation, supplier relations, and above all to analyse all this data to make better decisions.
For as long as they’ve been deployed, ERPs should no longer hold any secrets for organizations that are deploying them on a massive scale in order to take advantage of the benefits of digitalisation.
However, difficulties are always encountered, and 5 misconceptions still have a hard time of it.
This could explain their partial adoption in your organization, or the redundancy of the questions still being asked to your support.
On the programme:
1: « After all this time, the ERP is already well adopted » ⌛
But since then, your tool has evolved: a new homepage, new screens or fields to carry out a process, a change in regulation…
Just as 2 other elements have also evolved:
- Your internal practices and the rest of your workforce: a company acquisition and a new population of users to train, or a high turnover to manage
- Training and digitalisation needs: users only have a few hours a day to train.
When we know that 76% data quality problems are caused by user input, we can easily understand that this misconception is not true (The Warehousing Institute).
2: « Users are satisfied with their ERP » 👍
However, this multiplicity of actions and modules is leading to a standardisation of ERP solutions.
This rigidity prevents them from adapting to specific and local needs, leading to some unsatisfied users.
Moreover, the learning curve isn’t that easy, because users already have a heavy workload, and don’t have a lot of time for training.
3: « Users have already been well trained » 👨🏫
Does training date back to deployment? Have all the subtleties of the Finance/Purchasing processes been addressed? If yes, have any reminders been given?
Because after few weeks, 80% of what was seen during training has already been forgotten, especially without practice. It’s the famous « Forgetting curve » of Hermann Ebbinghaus.
With the multiplicity of digital tools to use on a daily basis, training must now be continuous and integrated into employees’ workflows.
Reminders are essential to help users remember processes, but also to keep them updated on any changes.
4: « The user manual is enough to train » 📘
The user manual is no longer adapted to users’ need for immediacy, who prefer to be trained in real time on their tools, when they need it.
When a user has a question, he needs to find the answer quickly. Having to browse through 300 pages hoping to find the right page talking about the process he has a question about, and whose response may be adapted to their profile and context of use, is discouraging in advance.
5: « Every user has the same ERP practices » ✔️
First of all, lots of users bypass practices but don’t say it.
The level of digital maturity of ERP users differs from one user to another. ERP is sometimes perceived as a complex tool to use, which may lead some users to adopt simplified or alternative practices.
For questions about the tool, they prefer to fill « the way they think » rather than asking questions.
Some are afraid to contact IT, others due to a lack of time, thinking that resolving the ticket will take more time than they have left to complete their task.
Also, users do not receive the same initial and ongoing training about ERP.
Initial training varies according to recruitment. Not everyone will see all the ERP modules, as the timing of some sessions will be tighter, or the training will evolve through feedback, …
Several parameters make it difficult to train users in the same way. Not all of them therefore apply good data entry practices.
Likewise, user needs and processes evolve over time, modifying their use of ERP. In this way, if training is not continuously adapted and the use of ERP is not maintained over the long term, errors may occur.
Finally, companies do not always establish a culture in which the adoption of digital tools, such as ERPs, is encouraged and supported.
Of course, not all of these ideas are found in every project!
But it may give you food for thought about your practices and your communication or training strategy. …
👉 To learn more about this topic, read this article 10 Secrets to ensure the adoption of your ERP
Do you recognise yourself in these practices? Don’t panic! We have developed a solution to solve these problems 👇
The Shortways solution:
Shortways Assistant is a digital adoption platform that integrates with your business tools (ERP, HRIS, CRM, …), that will train your users in a contextual and personalised way according to their profile, language and the screen they are using.
How? Shortways Assistant displays step-by-step instructions, notification bubbles and contextual FAQs integrated into the screens of your business application.
🔎 This involves digitising your manual by breaking it down into micro-modules, displayed to the right user profiles and available in the right places in your tool!
🔎 The result? Your employees are more efficient and better trained in their digital applications. You can also reduce your support costs quickly and easily.
