SMB organizations prepare

How should SMB organizations prepare for SuccessFactors Implementation – Part 3?

User Adaptation and Change Management

We understand that SMB organizations might not have a lot of money or resources to spare for an elaborate change management process. But let us just break it down and understand what is required and why for a successful SuccessFactors Implementation.

Most of the SMB organizations have seen rapid growth in some form or the other. The growth could be in the diversity of the workforce in regards to the country, types of jobs they do, region, or even geography. That is why many SMBs have a very diverse culture and a dynamic approach, unlike larger organizations, where a lot of work goes into creating a unique work and company culture.

This dynamism in the work and company culture is one of the principal reason which brings about an easy acceptance of new HR systems like SuccessFactors.

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Depending on the integrated system or hybrid system approach, your user adaptability will be different. But, irrespective of the approach you take towards your SuccessFactors Implementation, make sure that everyone in the organization understands why user adaptation is crucial for the success of the project. You can not achieve true transformation, until and unless all your employees embrace the new platform.

We strongly recommend user participation from a cross-section of the company during the preparation phase. The goal of such an exercise is to design the new system keeping the end-users in mind. Treat your employees like your customers and start planning comprehensive change management, communication, and marketing plan for the upcoming project.

Create a core group of change agents drawn out of your user community and ask for their input at the preparation planning stage of the project. This group of people can prove to be your biggest champions. Therefore, it is recommended that you keep them informed about why the system is being implemented, the benefits of the new way of working, and, most importantly, what would be their role during the planning and execution of the project.

We always recommend interweaving change management activities with your SuccessFactors project plan. Identify each step of the change management process, which can be performed independently of the other project activities without negatively affecting the phase-in-question of the project plan.

In the earlier segment of the blog, we discussed the documentation of your current and future processes. This probably is the best time to start thinking about change management. Identify what needs to change in each of the process areas and who all will be affected by the change. Try to access what would be required to make them comfortable in the new and changing environment.

Please check our website for more details on the importance of change management in SuccessFactors projects.

documentation

Effectively Train your Employees

SuccessFactors is an intuitive system, and the interface is consumer-grade; hence it takes much lesser time for the users to get trained. Having said that, moving from one technology to another still involves a learning curve.

During the preparation-phase, start analyzing your training requirements for each module that you plan to implement. Training needs analysis is a critical element within your change management strategy and should not be neglected at any cost. SAP SuccessFactors offers training materials to help with this, while partners like Renew HR also offers more customizable training services.

SAP SuccessFactors solution

SAP Enable Now is available for SAP SuccessFactors solution, which allows you to support your end-users in adopting software faster and helps them with their daily work. It will enable you to create guided tours, context help, and new content directly within the application.

SAP Enable Now is available for SAP SuccessFactors solution, which allows you to support your end-users in adopting software faster and helps them with their daily work. It will enable you to create guided tours, context help, and new content directly within the application.

Additionally, already existing formal and informal learning content can be easily offered directly within the application in a context-sensitive-way.

The challenge with most organizations using digital HR transformation strategy is how to encourage employees to fully utilize the new SuccessFactors system and be self-reliant for their process needs. The true business case of value and cost savings can only be achieved through more effective use of the system. The quality and ease of access to training and help resources is the key to success when implementing any module of SuccessFactors.

Please check our website for more details on the various options for training in SuccessFactors projects.

Business Insights and HR Analytics

One of the main benefits of SuccessFactors-led digital HR transformation would be to encourage and support managerial decision-making.

SAP SuccessFactors out-of-the-box provides plenty of useful HR dashboard and high-level reports and real-time data related to the most critical measures of HR success. By linking the data on the dashboard to the key organizational metrics, managers can extract a lot of essential insights into the business that can tie HR outcomes and corporate goals.

Based on the approach you take to implement SAP SuccessFactors all modules, (including a hybrid approach), you may also need to consider true HR Analytics which combine data from all sources. Modern data warehousing, data mining, and analytics products provide a centralized repository of selected HR data that is managed separately from live data.

But to be able to take advantage of the HR Analytics and Reporting, a lot of preparation is required in the form of building KPIs, taking measures, and considering dashboard requirements. We have seen from our experience that these activities are very time consuming and would need dedicated involvement from stakeholders before the start of the Implementation. To learn more about how to take advantage of HR Analytics, please visit our webpage on Analytics.

Big data and HR Analytics are changing the way organizations do business. As the use of technology to support HR decision-making continues to evolve, organizations must take advantage of these tools to see how they can enhance HR effectiveness.

You also can read our blog on how to build your HR Analytics strategy.

Insights

But to be able to take advantage of the HR Analytics and Reporting, a lot of preparation is required in the form of building KPIs, taking measures, and considering dashboard requirements. We have seen from our experience that these activities are very time consuming and would need dedicated involvement from stakeholders before the start of the Implementation. To learn more about how to take advantage of HR Analytics, please visit our webpage on Analytics.

Big data and HR Analytics are changing the way organizations do business. As the use of technology to support HR decision-making continues to evolve, organizations must take advantage of these tools to see how they can enhance HR effectiveness.

You also can read our blog on how to build your HR Analytics strategy.

In Conclusion

We have discussed various aspects of project preparation and planning, which are essential to your success. Remember that the cloud implementations are much shorter in duration compared to on-premise Implementation; hence a lot of project-related activities that used to happen during the Implementation now occur during the preparatory planning phase.

There are SuccessFactors partners like Renew HR who provide services to prepare you for your upcoming projects. Please take a look.

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