In an effort to be cautious and careful, some organizations roll out technology and process improvements in small “baby steps”. They want to be sure that the first step is adopted before moving on to the next. While that sounds like a conservative and safe approach, it can cause significant unintended consequences.
Consider the manufacturing company who uses an integrated ERP and warehouse management system to create manufacturing orders. When the orders are ready to be released, they are printed on paper and walked back to the manufacturing facility. All of the benefits of using the WMS for tracking and controlling inventory, scheduling orders and moving product through the facility are lost. They didn’t want to roll out inventory management on handheld devices because it would have been too big a change.
Consider a national retailer who upgraded their ERP system with a financial module requiring perpetual inventory control and tracking. In an effort to move carefully, they chose not to invest in handheld scanners and a warehouse management system for inventory control. That created a requirement for data in the system, but with no tools and processes by which to capture it. This can cause significant inventory discrepancies, customer issues and the loss of the original value of the ERP implementation.
Many Field Service Management tools are designed to integrate activities up and downstream in the overall service delivery process. The core workflows are very efficient, designed with best practices in mind. When you break that flow because you think your business is different or you’re not quite ready for the full solution, you erode significant value in the implementation.
Stick closely to the out of the box configuration and use as much of it as you can afford to get maximum value.
Have you taken the “all in” approach and seen it pay off?
Share your experiences online and learn more about field service transformation with Chapman Management Solutions at www.chapmansolutions.ca.
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