Cloud EM (ERP) issues: Challenge Companies 'Fit to Standard'

Since the last years cloud is the future for the new Enterprise Management (EM)software. It seems that the market has accepted cloud EM and the most of these companies are successful with their cloud systems. So yes, the market has changed and the companies have adopted the future. This is great.

But how can you be successful as project manager, consultant and even as a sales executive, simple:

‘we have to adopt the cloud methodology for these companies to the standard workflows and best practices’.

As it is we see a lot of project which are countered with old pitfalls. Because of these pitfalls the scoped budgets are at risk and even go that far that precious customers are doubting the cloud solution or even worse we are going compare old vs. new. Because of these possible doubts ‘old thoughts’ are entering our minds again. And these ‘old thoughts’ are blocking fast implementing results.

One of the biggest pitfalls on ‘old thoughts’ we see a lot are with (re-) implementations of Cloud EM systems or consultants which just started to work with cloud. They start the project with a ‘fit gap analysis’, this is really wrong:

‘On that moment the focus is purely on the gaps and functionalities which are not in the system’.

A direct result is that the statement of work is under discussion and due to the focus on the gaps even the solution can be under discussion. So the main question is: how can we avoid these pitfalls?

The answer is simple, we have to challenge the companies to the standards of the solution of Cloud EM. So this means that as a sales executive I have to challenge the person I speak. Not only on the preparation to a company as well as the questions I have to ask are key. Are the actual workflows of the company adaptable to the Cloud EM standards, and if not can I prove that the standards of the Cloud EM are good enough for this company. To prove that the standards of the Cloud EM are sufficient for a company, we let our consultants show it to the customers directly.

We deleted the words ‘fit gap’ in our directories, and adopted the Cloud EM methodology completely. We started to challenge our companies which have chosen for Cloud EM and we are speaking about:

‘Fit to standard’, and how we can simplify your business so we can really deliver value to your company.

So no trick shots and upselling, just delivering the project as agreed. The cycle in the beginning can be a little harder and maybe longer. The result will be satisfied customers and fast deliverables.