Transforming To A New ERP is Like Moving House

Have you ever moved house? I assume, most of us became masters in moving house over the years. Did you ever consider, you decide for a house and the rest comes magically together? I assume this is not the case.

Moving house is an exciting experience that often signifies a new chapter in one's life. Transitioning from a casual, normal house to a spectacular new home creates challenges, emotions, and triumphs that come along with it.

Moving your ERP system has many similarities, let′s check it out together.

?

A Decision to Move

The process of moving house begins with a decision. Living in a cozy, casual home for many years was great, but you had always dreamed of living in a more luxurious and visually spectacular place. Space becomes a challenge as the family or income has grown and the next house level is required. Beyond a certain point and after careful consideration, finally the bold decision to embark on a new adventure is taken.

The same applies to ERP. It is important to consider that the changed demand and size of your organization or the need for more agility and speed of business process adoption is in most cases the trigger for a decision to move. It is not the technology itself that is or even should be the trigger. Finally, an ERP system is an enabler for the business, not a self-fulfilling purpose for the sake of a technology upgrade. The fast-pacing innovation cycles across all industries are enforcing a frequent adoption of businesses improvements.

"An ERP system is an enabler for the business, not a self-fulfilling purpose for the sake of a technology upgrade."

Speaking of that, if you stay within the same product and run an upgrade/update I consider it comparable to a renovation. Could be small, could be large, but afterwards you end up with the next capabilities and a modern look, but finally in the same space as before.

?

Planning and Preparation

Moving house requires meticulous planning and preparation. You consult with architects, moving specialists, interior designers, and real estate agents to explore options and identify the perfect new residence. You envision a home that would not only meet the aesthetic preferences but also provide the functionality and comfort desired. Take the decision with a grain of salt, it will be relevant for a few years to come (at least).

Considering an ERP selection process, you follow similar rules. You consult with your business, move experts, designers, architects and think through the option. The level of complexity is obviously higher, also enforced by the challenge that the business might not even know their future preference, priorities and what′s the Next Big Thing. Like buying a house, you must take compromises between different parties (your family), preferences and investment budget.

A search for the spectacular new home takes you through a variety of neighborhoods and options. After visiting numerous properties, assessing their architectural design, amenities, and overall appeal in relation to the price. After diligent research and exploration, you finally discover a breathtaking residence that perfectly matches your vision and demand.

?

The Emotional Rollercoaster of Change

Moving house is an emotional rollercoaster. After the transition took place from the old to the new, people experience a mix of excitement, nostalgia, and anticipation. Leaving behind the familiar surroundings and memories of the casual home is bittersweet, but the prospect and excitement of the new creates joy.

This hits you in ERP more often than you might think. New user experiences, e.g. SAP Fiori, provides an easier, more intuitive way to run applications. An intelligent, consistent, and integrated user experience helps you redefine the way people work aka feel more comfortable in the new space.

"But the current property/ERP is optimized for your purpose. You have championed many processes; people have built expertise and mastered many challenges to get to today′s status. You have a certain pride in optimization and business excellence, as a company and as individuals."

Moving into a new home involves more than just physically transporting belongings. Enlisting the help of skilled professionals to ensure a seamless transition. From packing and unpacking to interior design and furnishing, every detail was meticulously planned to transform the new house into a reflection of your style. You need to ensure the infrastructure of gas, water, telephone, and internet be in place. Belongings need to be sorted and cleaned up before packing, reduced to the max. Once the move is complete, you can start settling by exploring each room, appreciating the luxurious finishes, the panoramic views and all the new digital feature that his new residence offered.

Managing the emotional rollercoaster of ERP moves, setting a certain portion of the investment aside for change management is a must. Every person, every organization has a certain inertia. Change requires a trigger, overcoming cherished behavior needs explanation and energy.

"I believe it is fair to say that the most successful ERP moves I have seen have put a fair 30% of the budget aside to support the change."

As soon as you understand the impact of a move out-of-the-box and consider a reimagination of the business process, you can transform to new business models and impact the business outcome directly. Leaving the Classical ERP framing behind of automation via fixed framing towards Changing the company, driving innovations, and leveraging disruptive technology to Leapfrog industry borders and drive the next Big Thing for the companies′ business.

?

Pack My Bags, cleaned my Core

When moving house, you typically don′t want to/shouldn′t just move everything. You have boxes in the basement that are around five years and untouched. The attic is full of things that were desperately required when purchased and haven′t been touched or unboxed in a while. There are untouched books in the cupboard and forgotten flatware in the kitchen… there is the old table and too many clothes.

A fresh start doesn′t mean to leave everything behind but to think through what is really required and what can be left behind. In ERP, we prepare for a clean and light weighted move via a Clean Core. The purpose is to remove adoption hurdles and take the weight away from upgrades. Training the upgrade muscles in combination with a preparation of the custom code is key to get into a flow of frequent adaption. The age we do live in is an age of Transformation and success from the past alone doesn′t guarantee a prosperous future anymore. Today′s business is much more a race. How fast am I able to adopt new technologies and new opportunities and gain a business advantage over my competition?

"Training the upgrade muscles in combination with a preparation of the custom code is key to get into a flow of frequent adaption. The age we do live in is an age of Transformation and success from the past alone doesn′t guarantee a prosperous future anymore."

New technologies need to be made available instantly. Today′s business owner wants to look at their business processes like a kid in the candy store and pick what appeals. They seek agility to be able to adapt fast and protect against new hungry innovators that leapfrog industry borders to eat their candies. Well-oiled and well-running business processes from the past are an asset, no doubt, but if they run on systems that are multi-year innovation cycles behind, the blessing might become a curse. New tech like Business AI appears at the speed of light and becomes ubiquitous in the blink of an eye. It′s all about materializing advantages fast.

"Clean Core doesn′t translate into leaving all boxes behind but Getting my custom code boxes under control”

Transfer where required and possible into life cycle compliant coding, either on stack (ABAP Steampunk) or side-by-side (SAP BTP). Check what really slows down your upgrade practice. Take the example of Hitachi High Tech (HHT), who replaced its highly customized, multinational business landscape with a move to the Cloud, investing in SAP S/4HANA Cloud. With a two-tier Public and Private Cloud model, using a side-by-side development approach on SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP), HHT reduced 9,000 custom code developments to 472, allowing it to facilitate major upgrades every year and minor updates every six months. Moreover, it’s adopted a clean core mindset as part of the strategy going forward. By embracing the change, HHT moves from a legacy approach to a future-ready intelligent enterprise.

My take

Moving from a casual, normal house to a spectacular new home is a transformative experience. It involves careful planning, physical movement, emotional adjustments, and motivation as initial trigger. Like each journey, it exemplifies the possibilities that lie ahead when one takes the leap and embraces change. Moving house is a physical transition, but also a personal and emotional transformational journey towards a more fulfilling life.

"Like a house move, an ERP move project is never auto stable. It needs to be carefully balanced between traditional, established, and well-known processes as anchor on the one side and transformative, value creating innovations on the other side."

If you consider the move auto stable during Prepare, Explore or Realization phase, you already underestimate the various forces within a company that are shaping an ERP project. Once all decisions are taken, the target state is defined and the movement has momentum, a big leap is behind you.

The challenge though stays to orchestrate a concert between

·???????? Bottom Line and Top Line goals

·???????? Conservative nostalgia and future-building innovation

·???????? Fast and meaningful quick wins vs time for change management

·???????? IT goals (plan = contract) & business goals (innovate and disrupt)

I look forward to hearing from you about your learnings and experiences.

#SAPCloudERP #CloudERP #SaaS #