This post refers to UMLD - the Agile methodology that Nidhi Arora has created, but any Agile based approach (including ASAP8) will realize the same benefits.
1. Seeing is Believing
If you are on the implementation side (either as the IT department or as the partner), the functional departments are the customers we seek to please. How many times have we sat through update meetings saying "We are 40% there" or "We are all set", only to be met with looks of disinterest? Because you see, they do not see. The 40% or 60% that you say is complete, is only notional to them. With Agile, they SEE that realization. So when you tell them 40% is done, they have seen the Foundational structures and they know what its going to look like.
2. Business Processes, not "Modules"
Processes used to be cast in stone. Look at how long it takes countries to revise laws. That's how it used to be for organizations. Not any more. Leaders change. Business Cycles may even be weekly or monthly. Processes change. They are sometimes not documented. We need to be able to go one business process at a time, convert that into a story and realize it. When we do Business Process led deployment, all stakeholders are forced to sit at the same table, discuss cross functional dependencies and arrive at the real, usable system.
3. Adoption and Change
Because people have that much longer "face time" with the new system, even something as complex as ERP becomes easy to understand, one process at a time. Adoption is gradual, people are included much sooner, and they get the time they need to "break in".
The use of Agile in ERP is limited, but that's to the detriment of real business value. There is a LOT of business value waiting to be realized there. For everyone. Irrespective of where you sit at the table, you will benefit from a faster, business process led, more inclusive implementation.
This article is contributed by Nidhi Arora, Co-Founder and Director at Topgain Consulting Pvt. Ltd.
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