If she said it once she said it 10 times....”I’m a customer and this isn’t good enough.”
It was early days and I had been warned...but my blood pressure was rising. The ‘evidence’ was turned out on the table. It was like a legal battle...the whole history, dates, places, statements, escalations, disappointments etc. It went back years and it was all very fascinating but hardly relevant to me - the new kid on the block. I wanted to know what the issues were now and if I could help. Her attitude was poor and on par with her competence.
It was one of those rare occasions when I led the ERP applications team in a meeting with a senior manager from the business side and despite our best efforts, it was impossible to make it in anyway a productive meeting.
There were a number of factors which I had quickly gleaned that would prevent this lady leaving the meeting entirely satisfied.
Firstly, her demands were totally unreasonable in terms of resourcing them.
Secondly, her proposed solutions were highly inefficient or unworkable.
Thirdly, she had managed her functional area side for more than 5 years and it was a mess.
Fourthly, after a few chats with people I realised that many user tasks were being performed by my own team. That would change.
Fifthly, there was a record of the lady going outside IT and ERP applications support to implement an array of inefficient application and reporting tools.
She was out of control and the executive had done little to redress the situation in the interests of the organisation. Politics ruled not professionalism.
But what really riled me was the statement that she was a ‘customer’. In fact, she was a manager in the same organisation as me. It seemed only IT had ‘customers’. The other functional areas were not suppliers as we were, although HR did have business partners which seemed very positive.
The ‘customer’ philosophy applied to those receiving services from the IT department. It also included the whole array of service delivery managers, customer support, liaison people etc. etc. None of whom added any real value and often promised what they themselves could not deliver. It was chaos and those who ranted the most got a bigger slice of the cake. IT project managers were reduced to order takers. There was no partnership. It wasn’t even customer service as is applied to ‘real customers’. It was pure servility.
It is so important to clearly define your customers. They will have a big impact on your ERP systems performance as they consume your resources. So what is the traditional view of a customer?
Consumer of your goods and services
-
They pay for your goods or services
-
They are able to choose other suppliers
-
Unprofitable or troublesome customer relationships can be terminated
There is a legal agreement
In an enterprise-wide system the only group that would fit the criteria as customers are those at the executive level. They are as near as possible to real external customers. Senior and middle managers do not have the enterprise view or responsibility - yet can often cause strains on ERP resources and performance.
The so called internal ‘customers’ can exert an undue influence on the ERP applications teams. The system can become inefficient, yet the responsibility is totally blurred in the chaos. Internal customer demands are rarely scrutinised and override organisational needs. Customisations are many and costly. ERP resources are misused and sometimes abused by ‘customers’. And the latter can make decisions around technology and service provision about which they know little.
If you are not a customer then you are a user, albeit you may be very senior in your organisation. Users can be supported professionally and it should not matter whether they come from within or outside your organisation.
Especially in large organisations it is important the right ERP project and/or support team members meet the right business users at the right levels in the same organisation. The frequency, content and reporting of those meeting should be pitched at the appropriate levels. Action points rather than minutes should be the output. Set up an Engagement Model to deliver it all.
A Custodianship Model defines roles, responsibilities, duties, and relationships between the applications team, the users, all levels of management, Super Users and other stakeholders. Without it - chaos reigns.
Some of the key principles of a Custodianship Model internally should include:
- Overall priority is the interests of organisation
- Equal partners in all dealings – a parity of esteem
- Business Partner analysis evaluates services and costs for each partner
- Escalation to IT senior managers and Business Partner senior managers
- ERP team challenges all Business Partner requirements for value for money
- Exploitation of ERP modules via ERP Super User Groups
- Joint work delivering efficiency savings
- Reciprocal services afforded to ERP team by Business Partners
- Agreed Code of Conduct
- Business Partners own business processes and controls
- ERP teams implement and maintain agreed controls in ERP modules
- Business Partners authorise access to their modules
- ERP teams grant and monitor that access
- Business Partners own the application data
- ERP teams monitor and report on data quality
- ERP teams are custodians & managers of live ERP applications
- ERP team authority is delegated from the executive via the IT Senior Leadership Team
- All actions are aimed at benefiting the whole of the organisation
- Reporting Strategy – constant agenda item for partnership meetings
A mature, professional and ultimately beneficial relationship can arise from a well defined internal Custodianship Model. People know their roles and responsibilities. IT, ERP and business resources do what they do best and collaborate on areas that require partnership with other stakeholders.
The organisation is the winner and the cowboys can ride off into the sunset ...
