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Implementation Forum |
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Communication Plan
It's been my experience that CEOs and other project sponsors are willing to be visible, vocal and active in supporting an implementation project, however, are not always confident in how to fulfill their executive sponsorship responsibilities or deliver a series of communications with the right timing, message and impact. I have found that a successful communication plan for sophisticated and complex projects such as the implementation of enterprise level software applications is a progressive, four phase communication approach, whereby each phase builds on the prior and ultimately reaches a crescendo effect in which staff are mentally prepared to accept their personal call to action. The four phases I have routinely used are as follows:
- Awareness – speaks to pressures for change, vision, project scope and project timeline
- Interest – speaks to strategy (what is CRM), specific objectives (including WIIFM) and challenges
- Understanding – speaks to strategic importance to company and change management
- Engaging – A call to action to participate in the successful implementation
For example, a letter that I drafted and sometimes provide to executive sponsors as a template is illustrated below.
Hello everybody:
I want to make everybody aware of the company’s newest strategic project that we have officially kicked off. With the start of the new year, our company began the implementation of an enterprise CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) business software system. Aplicor is the name of the packaged business software system we are now implementing.
For your reference, CRM systems are often called ‘front office’ systems as they are customer facing and include software modules which organize, manage and automate sales force automation (SFA), marketing and customer support functions. ERP systems are sometimes called ‘back office’ systems or in our case simply an ‘accounting system’ and manage the receivables, payables, fixed assets, project accounting, general ledger and financial reporting needs for the business.
As everybody in the company is aware, we are facing great pressures for change. As with most successful entrepreneurial companies, we have evolved largely in response to market driven opportunities and not necessarily with the benefit of long term strategic information systems planning. As a result of our growth, our processes have become more complex, our transaction volumes have grown dramatically and our ability to perform business processes with accuracy, consistency and completeness is challenged. Our IT staff have done a respectable job given the demands and constraints placed upon them, however, the company will not be able to continue its growth nor maintain its positive reputation without a more strategic information systems approach. We are now at a new stepping stone in our corporate evolution and plan to take this step with thoughtful planning and strategic intent.
The implementation of a new enterprise-wide information system brings both significant challenges and rewards. The implementation will not be easy. It will require software customization to meet our unique business requirements, complex system integration to meet our multiple locations and virtual needs, compromises to be made as not everything can be initially automated and it will require all of you to invest time and incur a new learning curve to become well versed with the new application. However, while the costs are apparent, so are the rewards. A new information system will bring increased consistency and predictability to our business processes, permit us to continue our growth, and improve the day to day lives of our staff and customers.
The implementation is slated to occur over six months. The implementation program occurs over a four phase process which includes phases for Planning, Conference Room Pilot, Training and Roll-Out. We have finalized several software customization and system integration design documents which Aplicor will now create to accommodate our business. Once the custom development is ready, we will begin ‘piloting’ the software’s configuration options. As we make progress and near the point of concluding the pilot phase, I will provide you additional updates. Thank you for your support as we embark on this critically important journey.
Regards,
Posted by: Chuck Schaeffer
Purpose: Share implementation lessons learned.
