It's also important to keep track of what an existing system
can accomplish. "Buying packaged software is like using Excel,"
Oliver said. "You might use Excel to do a couple of columns of
data and a simple calculation, but you haven't even touched
what the program is capable of. So if you are unhappy with
your system, I would wager that you are not using all of the
capabilities that you bought and that your people have simply
continued the old processes in the new system. I would go back
as if you are starting all over with that software provider and see
what you may be missing out on."
The Human Element
Improving business processes through technology can be
challenging for both practical and cultural reasons. The proper
analysis and leadership is required to overcome those issues.
"The big thing in change management is you have to
get everyone on board up front with the idea that change is
required for us to stay relevant and to stay competitive and
not go out of business," Oliver said. "The employees may
not want to do it and they may feel they already have a fulltime job and don't want to spend extra hours working on
processes and systems, but they have to hear that it is very
important to the business and their future employment. We
have to change and we have to stay relevant. If you don't
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want to take time to do that step, you might as well not do
the project."
Meek concurs with the importance of managing the human
component of change. "I think the number one thing is not
for us to force change upon people," he said. "You have to
look at every person involved with that and bring them along,
and sometimes you have to move them out of the way because
they are not going to adapt. There are people today, including
younger people, who don't take well to technology. Some of
them are afraid you are going to take their job away or they
are so accustomed to doing a job a certain way that you have
to approach it from a human standpoint. They're the ones that
are going to have to make it work, so you have to be very careful
and take your time."
Some of the challenges with the human element in the technology process might start to ease as time goes on, and newer
generations begin to assume both leadership and operational
support positions in companies. "We are starting the see the
baby boomers leave the industry, and to be honest, I think they
are not the most technologically savvy," Meek said. "I think the
next generation coming up will really push technology in the
marketplace. And, I think all of the staff within an organization
will be more capable of dealing with technology and the culture
in these companies will start changing."
May/June 2013
15
