At first, I thought I would write this blog concerning the importance of being prepared for a Customer GO LIVE in a new ERP system. One might be implementing at a client, whether it be NetSuite, Acumatica, or Dynamics GP.
Then, giving it some further thought, in reality I realized one should be prepared for anything called upon you by your company, whether it be an upcoming product demonstration for a prospect, a training session with a client, a meeting for an internal application used by your firm, or the ultimate task of a “Go Live” weekend for a new ERP implementation.
Best way to prepare? Make sure that nothing catches you by surprise, to the best of your ability, in front of your audience whom you are offering your expertise in front of.
For a client demo of a software application for example, learn as much as possible about their business beforehand, as well as nuances of what they are looking to achieve in their new prospective system. At that point you should be able to go into your DEMO environment and become prepared with some “hands-on” work of your own, which should be relatable/relevant to the prospect’s business, making notes along the way which you should be able to utilize when the time comes for the demo itself. Couldn’t hurt either to go over your processes more than once, making sure you are close to perfect when the day arrives that you are counted on to come through for your firm.
Preparation to properly train a particular group at a client after your firm has landed a new customer should go without say. Your client is expecting a degree of expertise from you when taking time out of their normal work day to learn a new system, and when all is said and done, they should have gained a degree of confidence that you as their appointed implementation person is a subject matter expert on the topics you have covered, having gained a level of trust in you that any future time spent with the team will be worthwhile in the end. Work on your weaknesses on the client’s test system before your session with them, as well as “bone up” on your strengths if it has been a while since working on a particular process.
And finally, your level of preparation work when it comes time to SWITCHING OVER systems for your client will determine your company’s success in the long run, so be sure to make this type of prep time the most important of all you will do at your position.
Data integrations that you have run successfully in your customer’s test database should be well-documented as to the steps taken, eliminating any surprises when it comes time to re-run during Go Live weekend.
Tasks should be documented on a spreadsheet that you, your colleagues, and your client need to accomplish on the customer’s Go Live weekend, as well as the order in which they should be done.
Stay organized, stay focused, and of course plan well, for if you follow your plan which was successful for you when organizing your client’s system for end-user training. The same will hold true for their Go Live, as data is data, it’s the planning you have done beforehand that will get said data into a state for your customer to have a successful run at the new ERP system your company has implemented for them.
