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sabotage the efforts, with an argument that the new
system, would temporarily slow down the
production. The success of implementing a software
in the core activity lies in slowly dosing the good
and the bad things, good things being less work
needed, more accurate and timely information
available, better communication in the value chain.
Bad things are getting used to the new software,
dealing with the software instability, changing the
way of working, and most importantly, shifting of
positions of power within the department. With the
new software in place, the ones who get used to it
more quickly are in better position. Usually it is the
younger and the more technically oriented
employees. However, one must understand the
difference between software skills and real skills that
add value to the process, because sometimes older
and more experienced people are unfairly
disregarded in this process, which turns into a loss
for the company. An extreme example from the real
life is employing a young person to do the typing for
an older key technical engineer who resists
accepting to use the computer. There are also
opposite examples – employing of a young
inexperienced person to perform consulting in
complex environment.
• With the help of the sponsor, set goals for core
activities. Before this is done, one must make sure
that there is enough knowledge of the new system in
the core business activity. If possible, the suggestion
is not to have sudden changes, but to let the new
way of working take over the old way. This way
there is always an alternative in case of problems
with the new system, which gives additional security
to those involved in the transition. This could for
example mean following one or more construction
sites through software, while others are followed the
old way, or automating production of one line of
products. The idea is not to break the existing
process with the new way of working if not
necessary. After the first cycle is completed, or nears
the end (one building, or one yacht assembled and
delivered) there will be enough data to analyze and
to convince the management to start reorganization.
12 CONCLUSIONS
Small and medium sized enterprises represent a very
large potential market for ERP solutions. Specific
approaches should be developed to use the benefits
of a comprehensive solution such as an ERP, and to
minimize the negative impacts, mostly arising from
their complexity and high expectations on security.
Due to lack of proprietary resources, and a faster
pace of changes that SMEs undergo, one must find a
way to implement software as simply, and with as
few additional resources, as possible.
Emphasis should be given to the "natural flow"
of things, at first maybe even "automating the old
way", and as the organization matures, changing the
business processes accordingly. The ERP systems
used by SMEs should be flexible, even able to
purposefully reduce the information security for the
benefit of ease of implementation. Once the situation
is stabilized, the security of information can be
raised again. Use of COTS solutions should
minimize the cost of development, at the expense of
the cost of systems integration.
Another high demand is for the project manager,
who should be skilled in many areas, such as
business, change management, training, information
security and IT systems integration. Of course, one
cannot be expert in all of these areas, but must be
able to manage them, engaging specialists for
specific tasks if needed.
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