The productivity gains and cost savings promised by e-business solutions are often lost not because of the technology itself but because of improper management of their implementation. In most of the cases, when a massive e-business solution installation goes wrong, the management of the business is to blame.
Pitfalls of E-business solutions installation process
A large distribution company has decided to use a new online supply chain management solution. The people – those who were supposed to use the system – were quite skeptic about the ability of the system, as they did not have enough knowledge and had very little or no training in using a similar system. As a result, it took over a year for the company to bring the solution to its full operation. Productivity suffered severely. The final implementation cost came out to be several times more than initial budget. A large number of companies are reporting to face similar difficulties with the implementation of their e-business solutions.
The problems that occur while a company tries to implement e-business solutions, most likely, include:
As a result, they have no idea how their workers will adapt to this new solution; and fail to set forth quantifiable objectives for them in terms of efficiency and productivity. Due to inadequate understanding by the management of the e-business solutions that they plan to adopt, often, the time and money allocated to the project are far less than required. Often the advanced Internet based e-business solutions require to be integrated with a portion of old systems that the company is presently using, which in turn, sometimes generates software and system incompatibility.
E-business solutions are sophisticated systems that encompass significant areas of the company and its relationship with customers. That’s why implementation of these projects should be carried out according to detailed plans.
Preparation
Create a well-developed scope. In creating the scope involve all end-users of the solution, not only the technical and business model experts. Get answers to the questions like:
What is the single most important goal that the company is planning to reach thanks to this solution?
What critical problems the solution is meant to solve?
Are the time and money spent justifies its implementation?
What are the implementation milestones?
How you will know that you have reached those milestones?
Once you got all the relevant people of the company involved in the process, choose an implementation task force of experts from all required sections. Upon completion of each stage of implementation get senior management involved in order to review the progress.
Education and Training
Education should cover the “why” side of the solution and training the “how” side.
Identify the people that required getting trained and educated.
Define objectives
Define training and education criteria and select syllabus
Set the evaluation method
Conduct the actual learning process
Assess their progress
Implementation
Implementation of the solution should take place according to the strict predefined stages.
Upon completion of each stage of implementation get senior management involved in reviewing progress. Conduct a reality check!
How does the solution meet your expectations so far?
Is it doing what it’s supposed to do?
Do you need to revise any of your priorities?
Once the implementation is over, set up a thorough post implementation meeting with the taskforce and the relevant end-users. If everybody involved with the project is satisfied with the result or not, the important thing here is to identify.
In order to successfully implement e-business solutions, it is very important that you fully understand the technologies behind it. , if require hiring a consultant and work closely with her.. In the long run, this might save you substantial time and money.
Here are other things to remember:
- E-business solutions are mere tools. Don’t expect them to radically change everything that you learnt about business processes.
- E-business solution implementations like any other project require strict step by step project management.
Before considering an e-business solution, make sure that there is a sound business need to get it. E-marketplace, Private exchange, Business portal are few of the e-business solutions that help you attract new customers and markets. - Keep track of the new technologies and keep an eye to your competitors’ e-business strategies. E-business is an extremely fast moving segment; you should be ready for changes and embrace them whenever it’s necessary.
The productivity gains and cost savings promised by e-business solutions are often lost not because of the technology itself but because of improper management of their implementation. In most of the cases, when a massive e-business solution installation goes wrong, the management of the business is to blame. A large number of companies are reporting to face similar difficulties with the implementation of their e-business solutions.
Due to inadequate understanding by the management of the e-business solutions that they plan to adopt, often, the time and money allocated to the project are far less than required. Before considering an e-business solution, make sure that there is a sound business need to get it.
