Six Ways to Make ERP More Employee-Friendly

ERP systems are helpful for many businesses, but they aren’t typically easy to implement, even for firms that have chosen web-based systems. There are steps that can be taken to drive adoption by making it more employee-friendly. Here are six of those steps.

1.    Build Around the Company Processes

Start with the business needs and processes, not the possibilities that come with the ERP system. Too often companies make the mistake of trying to mold their company around the system rather than the other way around. A better starting point would be to take an inventory of job roles and gaps, and then build the ERP solution around the business. 

Where appropriate, build the ERP solution around client’s existing processes. When the system offers an improvement, adapt the processes to capabilities to take advantage of what the ERP system has to offer.

2.      Get User Victors at the Beginning 

Many firms roll out their ERP system and then bring aboard departmental-level champions to promote system adoption. That’s already too late in the process. Having departmental champions involved end-to-end is essential to success. This allows employees to get local support within their department.

3.      Think Iterative Deployment 

When deploying an ERP system and make a sudden change, many existing businesses processes break or are different which the employees won’t like. One trick for making the ERP system more employee-friendly is by progressively rolling it out, checking for suitability along the way and easing employees into it. 

4.    Make Interfaces Simple and Customized

Different departments have different needs from the ERP system, so a one-method-fits-all approach to user interface doesn’t make sense. Make sure that the ERP system is customized for each division of employees and their needs are met in the system by keeping things simple. Never force ERP users to become experts. They should be experts at their jobs, not ERP.” 

5.    Add Smarter Notifications

Making ERP more employee-friendly means making employees work less. One way that businesses can support this need is by getting smart about activity feeds and notifications instead of forcing employees to go hunting for information on what’s happening in the system. Notification of the completion of workflow, the signature of a contract, the fulfillment of the order, etc should be notified to the concerned users for next step action.

6.    Train and Document Internally

Finally, a good way to make ERP systems more employee-friendly is by giving constant training to the employees and developing documentation for the system internally rather than having it come from the vendor. It also helps with getting employees familiar with the system on the departmental level.

ERP systems have made great strides of late in terms of user interface and usability, but much of the challenge for making the ERP user-friendly lies within the implementation phase, training and support.