Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm specializing in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm specializing in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
Cloud ERP deployments benefit businesses in a big way. They offer security, agility, and can enable your business’ adoption of other modern technologies. However, Information Technology (IT) departments can be one of the greatest sources of resistance when it comes to the adoption of cloud ERP solutions.
Cloud ERP Solutions
Business leaders looking to leverage the benefits of cloud ERP solutions don’t just need to do their own research on cloud ERP deployments. They also have to be able to make the compelling case for transition and convert resistance from IT staff. Adopting a Cloud ERP system is a significant change for the business as well as the departments charged with maintaining integral systems. Namely, your IT department. Here are 7 ways to get IT teams on board with cloud ERP software.
1. Understand And Communicate The Need To Take Action
A healthy sense of urgency can move things in the right direction more quickly than one might think. The call to action from the top of the food chain can grab attention and get all of your business’ moving parts moving towards a much-needed change. It takes compelling arguments and exceptional storytelling skills to communicate why the move to the cloud is what your company needs.
Features, functionality, and, most importantly, benefits to how business gets done every day need to be conveyed. Help your staff to understand that if you are not in control of your digital transformation, your competitors will make that choice for you. Doing nothing can leave you in a poor position to capitalize on beneficial tools as well as leave you vulnerable to the shortcomings of traditional ERP deployments. Advancing your business with more advanced technology signals to top talent that your business is doing what it takes to excel in a competitive marketplace.
2. Don’t Short-Sell The Impact Of This Transition
Transition to the cloud isn’t just an infrastructure change, it’s a change in how your company operates both physically and philosophically. A new way of thinking and working can upset the way your IT department has functioned for years, if not decades. Acknowledge it is a huge change and show your teams you are committed to equipping them with the tools they need to thrive in a new environment.
3. Actively Listen To IT Concerns
Spending time with your IT employees and listening to their questions and concerns will impact buy-in considerably. In many ways, it is your IT staff’s job to think about what could go wrong in ay given scenario involving your business’ technology. Here are some examples of what you might hear:
“Cloud ERP providers won’t understand how unique and complicated our business is.”
“Putting our data in the cloud is way too risky.”
“Our compliance regulations won’t allow us to use the cloud.”
“What will my job be after we move to cloud-based ERP?”
Show your staff that you are actively listening by taking notes, repeating back what you heard, and commit to coming back with answers at a later time. This effort of active listening and showing that you are genuinely interested may well be the best thing you can do to remedy concerns.
4. Get Help In Addressing Concerns And Answering Questions
You may have the perspective needed to move the business forward, but IT staff have the benefit of boots on the ground when it comes to working with technology hands-on. Their concerns are valid and may appear as imposing roadblocks. However, their intent isn’t to scare you into submission. The challenges created by new technology are those keeping your IT staff up late at night and working long weekends. If you are not equipped to provide answers to their concerns, consider enlisting the help of experts to make your case. An experienced partner, vendor, or consultant can provide credibility to your arguments and lay IT fears to rest with the information they are looking for to confidently follow your lead.
5. Learn From Experience
At this point, your company isn’t the first in your industry to move to the cloud. More and more companies are making the move to cloud ERP, from small and medium business to enterprise-sized organizations. Your industry counterparts can deliver invaluable wisdom when it comes to approaching the problem of how best to make the transition to cloud-based ERP systems. This includes both what to do and what not to do. Alternatively, you can enlist the help of a trusted ERP partner to connect you with reference customers that can share their experiences. Value can often be found in following.
6. Make It Clear What IT Will Look Like Post-Transition
IT arguably has the best vantage of a company’s business processes, not to mention how data and customers “move” through the organization. Cloud ERP is designed to help free them of cumbersome tasks, like troubleshooting. When left unencumbered by the burden of these activities, opportunities for cross-functional business process improvements emerge. This can take the form of helping users leverage technology more effectively or assisting with the cleaning and maintaining important data. Essentially, IT transitions from a non-revenue generating department and one of enabling your revenue-generating business components.
It’s important to understand and communicate that the nature of technology work will change for your IT staff. Though, development, configuration, and break/fix work will still exist—along with the need to manage your relationship and activities with cloud ERP vendors. Help your IT employees understand the tremendous technology and business value they will provide after you’ve made the move to the cloud.
7. Create The Plan. Execute The Plan.
Undertaking digital transformation and owning your company’s technological evolution is wrought with distractions and pitfalls. It can be easy to lose your way along the path to your goal. Without a sound change management strategy, you may find yourself very far from your intended outcome, if you ever reach your destination at all. Set up milestones and clear goals for your IT staff to ensure your project is a success.
Maintaining a team mentality may be your biggest asset of all. It cannot be overstated how important it is to offer consistent support and provide the assistance and advice teams need. Don’t forget to celebrate the little victories along the way to complete your transition to the cloud. With discipline and determination, your project will be a success and you’ll be experiencing the benefits of cloud solutions before you know it.
Encompass Solutions, Inc. is an ERP consulting firm, NetSuite Solution Provider and Epicor Gold Partner that offers professional services in business consulting, project management, and software implementation. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems or addressing the emerging challenges in corporate and operational growth, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. As experts in identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of Industry.
The essence of reaching out for help is never an easy task. We live in a “can do” society, where independence and self-sufficiency often define who we are or at least how we are perceived by others. The acclimation of stating that you just clearly do not know the answer to an unspoken question can be daunting for some and often forbidden. Therefore, we “spin our wheels” for hours on end, attempting to solve our own issues or enlighten ourselves with the answers to our own questions. Here’s where managed services providers can step in and lighten the load or deliver clear direction that leads to clear results.
The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.
-Albert Einstein
How Managed Services Providers Can Help
How many hours can you state that you have worked on something that you had a burning question on and you either never discovered the answer, or you just chose to ignore the unanswered question- with the constellation of thought that the issue would magically disappear one day. We are all guilty of this one thing. It occurs daily- at work, at home, at school, we all experience the clouded thought/ question mark experience.
In our ever-changing technological world, we will always have questions, but how we choose to handle these unknowns is what determines our success individually, as a business and as a technology community. With this in mind, we have developed an ERP Community Support system- our Epicor Help Desk Support organization, known as Managed Services- is here to answer any and all of your Epicor questions.
As Managed Services providers, Encompass delivers a program that includes the ongoing maintenance of Epicor environments (typically a Test, Pilot, Live and Training environment), application of one off bug fixes (SCR’s), restarting application servers and setup and maintenance of user accounts.
As part of implementing this service, Encompass Solutions, Inc. will provide standardized procedures for environment management, which must be adhered to by all resources – for example, installing an SCR on a test system prior to deployment in live. Environment refreshes can be requested and scheduled through managed service tickets. To ensure stable operations, the SQL maintenance plan will be reviewed to ensure that preventive maintenance is taking place, consistency checks are being performed, that load balancing has been performed, and that hardware is correctly specified for optimal operations.
Beyond our Help Desk Support organization, we also provide assistance with Epicor customizations through our Incident Base Support program. In this instance, a help desk ticket would be logged by you- the end-user, and if flagged for Incident-Based Support, we would write up the requirement(s) for approval, and provide an estimate for the services which must be approved. These requests may still be logged through the helpdesk, but will typically be quoted separately outside of Managed Services.
Encompass Solutions has a team of over 65 resources spanning 4 countries globally, with combined experience in ERP reaching over 250 years.This makes it clear that we are an ERP support organization dedicated to being much more than managed services providers. As an Epicor certified Platinum Services partner, Encompass resources attend training and complete certifications alongside Epicor’s internal consultants, developers, and other departmental staff. Additionally, as a partner of the highest tier and a more condensed organization, we provide not only a more personal approach to your implementation support, but an additional level of agility and resource escalation to facilitate your success.
We have been providing infrastructure support for Epicor ERP for over 15 years, on numerous platforms. With our coverage, and deep Epicor infrastructure experience, Encompass is uniquely positioned to offer effective and responsive services. Allow us to work with you to resolve those burning ERP questions.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of Industry.
Does It Make Sense For IT To Own Your ERP Project?
Would you let your IT team lead your company’s next marketing campaign? Would you let your IT team lead the installation and setup of your newest production machinery? The answer is no. That’s because IT has little responsibility for increased sales or increased production. If that’s the case, then why are IT teams often placed in charge of leading the implementation of a business application that needs to be integrated into the processes of your company? An important question to ask yourself is: does it make sense for It to own my ERP project?
Why is it that most companies immediately assume it’s IT’s responsibility? Is it because it is software and IT is responsible for all software? Is it because the application must be installed on a server or must be hosted at a remote location? Is it because the application must be installed on user’s desktops or configured to connect to the internet? Is it because they have the most available time to lead the implementation? Even if all that is true, the fact remains that ERP is a business application and not an IT application.
Too often a company purchases an ERP application, expecting big returns and then place the success of the implementation in the hands of the IT team. Too often, this assignment leaves the company ultimately frustrated with the results of the implementation.
Why IT Shouldn’t Own Your ERP Project
There is a reason you are implementing new software and it is likely because your current software is not capable of doing the business processes your company currently performs. Do not make the mistake of believing that the software will be installed and set up to work as your current ERP application. The most successful ERP implementations are the result of hard work by a strong team of company leaders that span all of the company’s departments and have responsibility for the final results of the implementation. That team-first must understand the current business processes and current company needs. Next, the team learns how the new application performs business processes. The team must then determine the gaps between existing processes and the functionality of the application to design a plan to overcome the gaps. Afterward, they construct the new business processes and the manner in which they are accomplished in the new application. Lastly, only after all business units have properly validated the application performance with company data is the application deployed.
In order to achieve a successful implementation of your ERP application, IT will be heavily involved in the rollout of the application and today many IT professionals have a very a strong understanding of the processes their company is seeking to achieve. But the responsibility of the success of the implementation should be placed with a company leader that has the best project management skills, the greatest understanding of the company’s processes, and has a significant stake in the results of the implementation.
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of Industry.
