Make Your ERP Consultant Walk In Your Shoes!

Do consultants and auditors really know what they’re talking about?  Would walking in your shoes for a day be better than telling you what you ‘should’ do? 

 Junior Seau, the 20 year veteran of the NFL and defensive player who led the San Diego Chargers to their one and only Super Bowl appearance to-date in 1995, has a new show on the Versus channel.  “Sports Jobs with Junior Seau” allows fans to be part of the action and see what it really takes to tackle some of the coolest, dirtiest and most fascinating jobs in Sports.  From Indy Race Car pit crews to Arena Floor crews for the “Boston Garden” to playing the ‘journalist’ position for a football game for Sports Illustrated, fans get a closer look at seeing what it takes to “Cover” a game rather than playing in one. 

 So my point – when choosing a company to help implement your ERP system make sure that they have experience in using the system for their daily procedures, reporting and inquiring.  Do THEY use the system they are selling in-house?  Do they follow their own BEST PRACTICES?  Take a look at the software and envision how it fits into your business model!

 Make sure your consultants spend time learning how YOU do your business, what has made YOU successful and how YOU make a difference to your customers, before telling you how to do a ‘better’ job.  The purpose of a state-of-the-art ERP system is to make your job easier, but to work the way you do.  Microsoft has invested millions of dollars in creating Microsoft Dynamics GP to be ‘people ready’ and integrate with the office products you already use, so you don’t have to change the way you like to work.  Our customers understand we become a part of their team, if they remain successful, we are doing our job.

 So remember these key points:

1. Make sure your consulting firm takes the time to get to know YOUR business.
2. Make sure they use the product they are selling you.
3. Don’t change what makes you successful; Embrace it, but perhaps streamline it!

 Just because someone has been trained in using Microsoft Dynamics GP software doesn’t mean they ‘get it’ and are qualified to tell you how to use it to your advantage.  Just like understanding and watching sports doesn’t qualify you to do any of these ‘cool’ sports jobs many people would pay to do for a day.  You have to ‘walk the walk’!

By Abra Gilman, Borek Business Solutions - Oregon Microsoft Dynamics GP Partner

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