Investing in a new solution to automate processes is one thing; ensuring you achieve the desired objectives is quite another. In this paper, Don Holley and Frank Volckmar discuss how you can successfully realise the benefits promised by this type of project.
Transformation of financial processes, particularly accounts payable and procurement through automation, has proven popular amongst most large and multinational organisations seeking to improve governance and working capital while reducing operating costs. Touting a return on investment (ROI) of 12-18 months, IT and financial managers succeed in selling the benefits to the executive, but don’t always think and execute the project through to full benefits realisation.
Often overlooked or underestimated by business, IT and project managers in general, is the people aspect of large software implementations and the subsequent transformation that takes place, both at an operational and psychological level. From IT’s perspective, making sure the technology does what it is supposed to do is the number one priority. Thus, the term “project management” largely focuses on the methodical implementation of the software. While accounts payable automation isn’t considered in the same league as an ERP implementation, the impact of the process change on people is almost equally broad. Failing to adequately consider the needs of those impacted by the process change leads to frustration for managers and AP staff, reworking of solutions by IT, and slow adoption of the new solution by the organisation. The net result is another IT project failing to live up to its promises, and sidelined careers.
During a study of five large implementations of accounts payable (AP) automation systems, including both publicly traded companies and government organisations in Australia, it was conclusive that those considering automation could realise the benefits of the software much faster and make the transition far easier, with dedicated people, leadership plans, and improved process adoption and organisational training plans.
In addition, there is significant opportunity for specialist software vendors to create a point of difference with new customers to reduce overall project risk. By sharing their understanding of the pain points experienced by existing customers around change management and working with them during the implementation to manage these issues, vendors are able to demonstrate true commitment to achieving real business value for new customers.
There are five key things that an organisation can do to manage the preceding change-related challenges based on the experiences of the most successful implementations.
1. Human resources capability: get the right people doing the right things quickly
Objective selection and assessment prior to go-live can ensure that you have the right players in your AP team. Benchmarking the cognitive abilities, motivation, and the personality traits of the most successful operators and management in the new AP environment can be very valuable. Objectively assessing your team’s suitability (or lack thereof) based on industry best practice is important in the delivery of the organisational value promised in the business case.
After the Shared Services or Finance Manager ensures that adequate resources and support are provided to the team, the Project Manager (PM) becomes pivotal in setting the pace and approach to the project. The PM determines the level of interaction with stakeholders, motivates the delivery team, works with AP and executives to deliver communication, and mitigates risks by understanding both capabilities and hurdles. Selection of an appropriately skilled, open and influential PM is critical to the start and successful achievement of project goals.
Matching your changing AP team’s needs to existing profiles and ensuring you have the right balance can undermine trust and build resistance unless managed in an open environment. AP teams are well aware that one of the aims of an automation project is to reduce staffing numbers, so organisations need to be straightforward in setting individual expectations. Those you desire to keep should be identified early and kept involved in the project development and implementation. Others need to be retained until the team has adjusted to the new workload and initial “double invoice” volumes have been processed. This is often necessary while AP team members are learning the new process and receiving new invoices from suppliers and old invoices from line managers.
2. Get executive support not just for the business case, but also the change plan
Make sure that your project plan incorporates a preand post-implementation communication strategy with support and directive from an executive leadership level. Communicating the importance of the project and explaining the organisational benefits from this level down, opens the road to easier and quicker acceptance and cooperation from the organisation.
It is an unusual organisation that is able to lead significant change from middle management without executives communicating the vision. A measured commitment of support from the line of business executive greatly assists the implementation team in encouraging feedback, participation, and adoption by managers. Often changes such as this are treated as a discrete technology project. However, both benefits and impacts, as is the case with AP automation, are far-reaching across the organisation. Without executive support and buy-in, it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the PM and the project team to get traction and manage resistance if and when it is encountered.
Best practice is for the executive sponsor(s) to review, challenge, and support the change management plans to ensure they are appropriate in terms of risks, scope, capabilities, pace and resources. If your internal change capability does not have the adequate competencies, some outside specialist assistance should be considered. Commitment from the executive team is important as this transformation can take up to 12 months. Create an Executive Steering Committee which consists of key Finance and IT executives, executive(s) from the vendor, and PM, to discuss implementation, resourcing issues and progress towards business outcomes. This Committee is key to ensuring adequate support and attention is paid to process adoption and training challenges. Such steering committees lift the focus of project teams beyond implementation milestones to business outcomes and short circuit implementation delays, by ensuring both client and vendor implementation teams are in sync.
3. Engage the critical mass: people don’t learn change, they allow it
Involve key stakeholders early in the change process. Facilitating key stakeholder group sessions to gain their input and feedback as well as develop a greater understanding of the impact of the change process, will significantly improve adoption of the new technology. These workshops should be positive, collaborative and interactive, and are best facilitated by a professional who can provide the format that both excites the participants and allows them a greater degree of comfort about the change process.
Most organisations find a two or three phase program, with the first phase being a pilot, is best to ensure the new process is tested and refined before rolling out to the entire organisation. Together with champions, facts and an inclusive approach, phasing a project will “snowball” the adoption of a new process.
The most common pitfall made in “engaging the critical mass” is to focus the conversation and training on the “new system” rather than the “new process”. Adopting a new process is much more than learning how to use the new software and requires an understanding of which behaviours need to change and why. Vendors are well equipped for system training and have numerous manuals on offer. The majority of your end users however, do not have time to review the manuals and need a simpler, higher level approach. Best practice is to review the process thoroughly, and identify in detail, the behavioural changes and possible objections that are required. A framework for process adoption, together with business metrics/KPIs, is then executed to foresee and manage any adoption risks.
4. Tailor your training to your organisation
Most software vendors will provide technical manuals and assist in the technical training. Investing in a tailored training program, using organisation-specific examples, would be most effective based on our research. This is often left to the AP team, which is heavily involved in working with the new system, but may not be experienced training developers. Managing this process can also minimise errors and frustration for line managers, once again realising benefits faster.
Using the input from the stakeholder assessment, a detailed training strategy including both expert and casual users may be developed. While the expert users benefit from involvement in process design workshops and user acceptance training (UAT) during implementation, designing the solution for casual users and making it
intuitive to use is critical. Organisations consider a combination of solutions including direct training, quick
reference cards, online training and process manuals.
The appropriate solution for your organisation depends on the number and distribution of stakeholders, cultural propensity to conform to processes, access to online systems, and process understanding.
5. Focus on and communicate the business benefits
With niche solutions such as AP automation, sometimes the benefits of the software to the entire organisation can be overlooked. Not just what the software does, but the broader business value that can include financial, efficiency, productivity, and governance benefits. Appealing to different stakeholder groups and outlining ‘what’s in it for them’ is recommended. Expanding your communication plan to incorporate such considerations will also accelerate acceptance.
Identify and measure metrics reflecting the performance of your new process against the manual process and your business targets, and stay with the project until the goals are achieved.
Leveraging and respecting feedback from champions from each user group in an inclusive manner improves the process, increases buy-in and communicates successes. Maintaining a structured feedback loop with the user community does take extra effort by the implementation team, but ultimately lifts overall performance for the business. Follow Mark Twain’s wisdom, “I made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it shorter”, and spend a little more time getting to understand stakeholders and planning to streamline your end result.
Don Holley is managing director of Mindset Group, and Frank Volckmar is managing director of ReadSoft Pty Ltd (Australia), This is an extract of the white paper, ‘Making Change Happen’, published by ReadSoft.
To download the full version of this paper, visit http://info.readsoft.com/au_changemgt_WPoffer_2012aprLP.html.
This article was first published in Inside SAP Autumn 2012
