The Shortlist

Thursday June 2, 2011

Software to power your business

In this edition of The Shortlist, we explore a number of different perspectives on how software contributes to the success of your business.

First up, Matthew Green from The Infinite Group kicks things off with an article on a key demographic challenge facing many business owners: How can they transfer knowledge without major disruption, as baby boomers start to hand over the reins to younger generations?  As he reveals, the answer is to invest now in systemizing your business.

Continuing this focus on people, Lynda White explores the human side of ERP implementation. She offers a number of practical suggestions for how to help your staff embrace the new system and avoid some of the common issues. If you're thinking about (or already involved in) an ERP project, this article is well worth checking out.

Also in this issue we draw your attention to an interesting article from Strategy+Business about how to better manage your IT investments so that they really help drive your business success. Check out the brief summary below, and if that grabs your attention we suggest you read the article in full at S+B.

And before we head off, a quick call out to all the people we saw at the CEBIT trade show in Sydney this week. It was great to put a face to familiar names - even in this day and age, there's nothing quite like meeting in person to build rapport and understanding. Thanks also to those we met for the first time - we hope to get to know you more over the coming weeks and months.

That's all from us for now. See you next time...

The Software Shortlist team

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SME Systems: Knowledge Transfer Between Generations

By Matthew Green, a Business Advisor with The Infinite Group.

Of the 2 million small businesses in Australia (and millions more in the US, UK and other nations) many are facing a critical challenge: How can they best transition knowledge from Baby Boomer staff and owners to Gen X and Y employees?

‘Has anybody else seen that elephant in the room?’ With many Boomers facing retirement in the coming years, the retention of knowledge is a growing concern for business owners right now. Having years of knowledge walk out the door can cause major interruptions, not to mention the situation where health concerns of Boomers (or their partners) unexpectedly bring about premature retirement.

Yet, ‘nobody is mentioning the elephant’: when and how are we going to move that knowledge out of their heads and into the heads of other staff …and ideally into a system that all staff can use?

Maintaining profitability while knowledge is being passed on and often within a relatively short time is the challenge. This is being done with mixed results across all business sectors. In addition, there are also major differences between generations in terms of their preference or aversion to the use of technology, which can make the task of knowledge transfer an interesting one.

Systemisation is one important approach to mitigating the risk of knowledge loss. If you operate a business with a reliance on highly knowledgeable staff, your business may be vulnerable. While the loss of knowledge can threaten some staff, with good leadership and communication this knowledge transfer can be achieved. If you systemise the norm and allow staff to manage the exceptions, you can show any concerned staff that systems do not make staff redundant which is often the fear.

Systemised businesses are highly attractive places to work and manage, they allow staff to have time off, plus the business as an asset is considerably more valuable.

It is clear the clock is ticking for many businesses to determine a plan, action it and remove this risk of knowledge loss. If this is something you must face, what are you going to do about it?

Here are some questions to consider:
• Do stakeholders support this knowledge transfer and have commitment to complete the task?
• Have you considered which staff to involve?
• Do your staff have the right skills to complete this?
• Is there a need to get external help due to expertise or time availability?
• Will time be set aside from day to day responsibilities to complete the task?
• Have you consulted staff on how they think it can be best approached?
• Should knowledge be documented or build it into a system?
• Can an existing system house this knowledge?
• Have you formed a realistic plan for these activities?
• Do you have the end picture in mind?

In future articles, I will take more time to outline the obstacles and offer some points to help navigate this multi-faceted quandary of systemization and knowledge transfer.

In the meantime, remember that systems and technology exist to be leveraged in order to give time back to you and your staff. The aim is to use your systems to make a profitable business without unduly relying on key personnel.
 

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The Human Side of ERP

By Lynda K White

When people hear that a new “system” is coming, their first reaction can be “Oh my. They’re going to automate my job and get rid of me,” instead of being accepting and thinking, “I can learn this new system and make myself more efficient and therefore more valuable to the company.”

Most companies will at some point find themselves needing to implement a new ERP system. Since this will touch just about every administrative function in the company, it's important to consider what you can do to help employees prepare and “welcome” the new ERP system.

First of all, don’t try to keep the system a secret. Word will spread through office gossip which is not always the most reliable information. Be open and honest with employees. Communicate the arrival of the new ERP system in every medium you have at your disposal to communicate with employees. Do not just send out an email and expect the email to be read and understood by everyone. One of the best ways to communicate is by holding meetings at each location where the system can be introduced, demonstrated and allow time for employees to ask questions and for everyone to hear the answers to the questions.

Continue reading on our website...

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How IT can contribute to your business strategy

IT departments and projects don't always have the best reputation inside companies. Issues that are often talked about include scope creep, budget over-runs, implementation delays, inflexibility of legacy systems, high ongoing support costs, pet projects, and unclear prioritisation.

But it doesn't have to be this way! As explained in a recent Strategy+Business article "Road Map to Relevance", IT can play a critical role in contributing to your company's distinctive capabilities - i.e. the things that underpin your strategy and help you succeed in a highly competitive marketplace.

The authors outline a four step roadmap to getting more from your IT investments:

1. Understand which capabilities matter most to your business success
2. Prioritize your IT investments, depending on their strategic importance and value potential
3. Determine an appropriate sequence in which to make those investments
4. Work together with other parts of the business to ensure alignment and buy-in

They also present useful framework for prioritizing IT investments (...in a 2x2 matrix of course!)

• Invest to grow:  these are the most important IT projects, aligned to what will make or break your company. Examples might include implementing a new CRM for a company that has decided to focus on customer relationships as their main point of difference.
• Invest to sustain:  minor improvements to an existing but very important capability, for example an upgrade project to get more out of your ERP system.
• Invest to refine:  efficiency improvements or similar projects that add to the bottom line but don't deliver capabilities that will be critical to the company's strategy.
• Invest to keep the lights on:  these are of low value and low strategic importance, and should be minimized and scaled back where possible

Regardless of whether you're a business owner, IT manager, CFO, etc, we suggest it's worth reading the full article to get a different perspective on how IT can contribute to your business success.

Read the full article here

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CRM reviews available

Thinking about implementing or upgrading a CRM system? Then make sure that you check out our CRM reviews, published recently on the Software Shortlist website.

These CRM reviews were conducted by an independent expert according to a robust methodology, and will give you a headstart with your CRM selection process. And don't forget that our free Get A Shortlist service can help you quickly identify which CRMs suit your particular business needs.

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