Everyone knows what Neil Armstrong said when he walked on the moon. Here’s a less famous Armstrong quote from before he got there: “I think we’re going to the moon because it’s in the nature of the human being to face challenges.”
The moon landing remains one of the most significant challenges ever faced. More than half a century later, businesses still refer to major goals as “moonshots.” For your SMB, implementing a new ERP or migrating to the Cloud may feel like one. However, there’s a key difference between a business technology implementation and Armstrong’s literal moonshot: Nobody had ever landed on the moon before.
That means that your company can learn from the many other SMBs that have successfully tackled a daunting tech project. At Enavate, we’ve helped hundreds of such companies. Here are 10 tips you can take away from their experiences:
- Find a knowledgeable technology partner… Tom Norman, COO of Skeletal Dynamics, says this about Enavate Client Care Expert Kyana Brooks: “She was exceptional. Super knowledgeable. Everybody here in the office is still asking me, ‘When’s Kyana going to come back? We have a lot of questions for her.’ They know that she’s going to give a great answer and then suggest several different ways for us to interface with the software more efficiently.” Brooks and the rest of the Enavate team brought their vast ERP knowledge to the table, which made it much easier for Skeletal Dynamics to upgrade to a Cloud solution.
- …and make sure you actually like them, too. Of course, expertise isn’t the singular thing a good technology partner should offer. They should also be easy to work with. According to Ron Allen, CFO of IRMI, “Enavate is very good at supporting you, understanding what you need and building relationships.” In other words, technology implementation is as much about the people as it is about the tech — and your partner should understand that.
- Have specific goals in mind. Before you choose and implement a solution, you need to know what you’re trying to accomplish with it. For example, Andretti Indoor Karting & Games was growing quickly and wanted to improve resource utilization, so they partnered with Enavate to upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. “The fact that it’s smoother and we don’t have to make purchase requests manually will allow me to be in a position where I don’t have to hire another person for quite a while, even with the expansion we’re doing,” says Tammy Koehler, the company’s CFO.
- Make sure your partner has enough resources. Once you have an idea of the scale of your implementation project, you’ll need a partner who can actually support it. IRMI had previously worked with Enavate on an integration project and was impressed with their capacity, so when it came time for a Cloud migration, they knew who to call. “When we decided we needed a bigger partner with more resources, we went with Enavate because of that experience,” says Allen.
- Continuous communication is key. A technology partner should always keep communication lines open and productive. “What stands out to me is that Enavate always responds,” says Alan Sheriff, program manager at Time4Advice. That responsiveness is vital to keeping an implementation project moving forward with momentum.
- Implementation is a collaborative process. It’s not simply about quickly responding to calls and emails, though. Those responses should be made in the spirit of collaboration. As Norman says about the Enavate team, “Everybody’s focused on solving the problem, not necessarily ‘My solution’s the best solution.’” A prescriptive technology partner is less likely to listen to and understand your company’s particular needs, which can lead to a solution that doesn’t actually fit.
- Your tech partner should understand your particular industry. Every industry has its quirks, and any technology implementation should be performed with them in mind. For example, a nursery like Prides Corner Farms has seasonal peaks that put them in break-fix mode. “It’s a big engine,” says Christian Jospeth, PCF’s IT manager. “We must have all the gears turning to make things happen, and we can’t have downtime. Enavate is aware of this. They recognize that we need to jump on something right away if something goes wrong.”
- Prepare for a learning curve. “When we realized our processes were going to change even more than we thought, we had to determine if we were ready to learn all new processes and systems,” IRMI’s Allen says. “We decided we were. Everybody had to learn new processes, but we’ve improved through that. It’s been good for us.” It helped that Enavate understood the importance of change management and tailored IRMI’s training program to suit their team.
- Implementation doesn’t end when the solution goes live. Success isn’t about reaching a finish line; it’s about gaining and sustaining widespread adoption. Your technology partner should understand that and provide ongoing support, as Enavate did when Easter Seals Goodwill North Dakota’s system accidentally processed payroll three times. Our support leader walked CFO Cathy Metz through the SQL code to find a fix. “If I would’ve done it on my own, I bet it would have taken me two days,” Metz said. “With [Enavate], it took a couple of hours.”
- Your partner should care about your success. Like, a lot. At Enavate, our client projects aren’t items to be crossed off the to-do list. We want to see them truly succeed, which is why we take such a comprehensive approach and place so much value on relationships.
Whether your company is taking one small step or a giant leap, a successful implementation is well within reach. To read more about our client success stories, check out our resource library. And if you’re interested in joining their ranks, reach out to our team about a potential partnership today.
