Manufacturing Software Training Nightmare

As the main focus of my job, on a daily basis I speak with a number of users of various construction and manufacturing software packages.  In most cases, the users are not satisfied with their current system and come to me for advice on how to improve their performance with a new package.  The majority of the time, they are correct and will benefit greatly from a more advanced software solution.  However, in about 20% of the cases, the company that thinks they need new software are destined to be disappointed because they will fail to properly learn and train their employees about the ins and outs of the new system.  I find this to be true regardless of company size, specialization, or industry.

A few years ago I worked with a medium-sized electrical contractor that had many jobs to complete in a short time frame. They were using very old software that lacked any of the niceties of new Windows software.  Even things as simple as having multiple users access an application at the same time were not possible with their software. Needless to say, the software was a serious hindrance to office productivity.

Of course, the first thing that popped in to their heads was to get new software that was more powerful and had the features that they needed.  I spent some time researching various packages for them and finally arrived at a package that wasn't completely state of the art, but was more than adequate for their uses.  After viewing several demos, everyone concluded that the software looked like a good fit.  The final step before purchasing and installing the new software was to have their primary accounting person sit down and try the software out since she would be the one using it the most.  Since they were on such a tight schedule, this had to be done late and night and after normal work hours. 

To compound the problem, nobody in the company's upper management offered to help this individual with this ardous task.  Since the assignment was way out of the individual's skill set and knowledge-base, over a year went by with little to no progress.  Finally, after two years, the company decided to purchase the software and install it.  They completed some introductory, basic training for their end-users and went live with the new system.  However, since their staff was not very technologically-inclined (and wasn't properly trained), they made the choice to continue operating with their old system in parallel with the new system for an entire year.  Why?  Because nobody within the company was willing to take the necessary steps to learn the new software and train the users how to properly manage it.  Therefore, they essentially doubled their workload for these employees for a whole year out of the (avoidable) fear of the unknown.

Several important lessons were learned as a result of this wasteful process. First, key managers should be brought in to initial meetings with vendor trainers to give them an overview of the implementation process, all the strategies involved, and the time-frame.  Second, when the manager doesn't fully buy in to the process and understand the tasks and time-frame, they may not choose an employee who is the most qualified to learn the system and to train other people.  Instead, they often choose the employee they can most do without for the "train-the-trainer" sessions.  Without the supervising manager’s involvement, classes were routinely skipped by staff employees and the entire training process broke down.

Therefore, if your company is in the process of selecting and implementing new erp software, make sure that you have the support and commitment of upper management.  Managers need to know what resources will be required to get the system up and running in a timely manner and must be held accountable if those timeframes are not met.  It is imperative that the right people are selected to learn and train your staff on how to use new software, and if the management isn't even committed to making that decision properly, is it realistic to expect positive results from the new software? 

The conclusion to be drawn here is that new software will only be as good as the people that use it.  And the people that use the software will only be as good at using the software as they are trained and motivated.  To be successful with new software, all key members of the company must be involved and management must ensure that proper training and motivation are provided.