As our client acts as an intermediary for a wide range of SMEs within the mobility sector, it had understood the need for greater digitalization in the operations of its partners. Given the fragmented landscape in Belgium, it also understood that its partners would need a strong shepherd to help them through the difficult investment and consolidation phase that lay ahead.
Our client thus envisioned a grand programme, culminating in a three-pronged implementation initiative seeking to simultaneously:
- Replace the existing outdated ERP system with an entirely unrelated, state-of-the-art new ERP system developed by a foreign partner
- Integrate the new ERP system into the wider IT-landscape they had already begun to set up (and make a plethora of adjustments to it while they are at it)
- Switch to an entirely paperless way of working
In most organizations, each of these three aims would have been turned into a separate programme.
At our client however, they chose to combine all three into one big programme.
Thankfully, a structure was chosen that allowed for some experimentation. The client introduced three stages in this project:
- The pre-test stage
- The pilot stage
- The mass-rollout stage
Given our specific experience in the fields of Innovation, CBTW’s Strategy & Governance service line was brought in during the preparation for the pre-test stage, as everything was not going as smoothly as our client had initially hoped for.
We had three months to get the various feuding parties back around the table, map out the required resources to turn the pre-test phase into a success, highlight any gaps and create a coherent strategy to deliver the desired results.
Key Achievements
By executing a six steps approach, we were able to:
- Provide a clear estimate of both the needs and available capacity, as well as highlight divergences between them;
- Provide proper incentives for employees and partners to help fill any vacancies;
- Create a planning that was perceived as fair and equitable by both the leadership of our client and their pre-test partner;
- Deliver a successful rollout at the various pre-test sites;
- Successfully onboard 4 pre-test sites on the new system;
- Take approximately 100 pre-test users.
Impact
While circumstances for this project were not ideal and we would definitely have advised earlier changes to the governance of the programme, we were still able to achieve a great success against the odds during the pre-test phase.
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