Is IT viewed as a partner to the business? Or a necessary evil? Or something in-between? Successful companies go down the path of partner. After all, critical business processes (which drive profitable growth) are connected with systems – you cannot succeed with one and fail with the other. Thus, you must think about strengthening the link.
Larger companies have folks termed business analysts who understand business and help translate business needs into technical specs and systems analysts who come from the technical side and think through how to translate technology into business results. However, the vast majority of companies are considered small to mid-size businesses and might not have these positions. There’s no reason to despair…. I often times find people who are capable of performing this role for your critical business requirements. The key is to look for them. I’ve worked with a few of the BEST, and I guarantee that although often undervalued, these folks had a direct correlation to tangible business results.
Even if you have these folks identified, it might not matter if you don’t view IT as a strategic partner. You better! Your ERP system can make or break your ability to succeed (as witnessed by the resounding failures of some new system implementations we’ve all heard about in the news or from our network… and the dramatic negative customer consequences to follow).
No company can run without financials – at least not for long. Financial reporting is tied to your ERP system. I’ve seen really impressive manual systems; however, even in the best case I’ve ever seen (which also happens to be the only case I couldn’t recommend low-hanging fruit because their manual network was so extensive), the reason I was talking with this client is because they had to upgrade and better leverage the system to support growth plans and service requirements. It is no longer acceptable to not know order status at all times!
Do you consider your IT or ERP experts as strategic partners?