Prepare your Business Process Owners for their Critical Change Management Role

Whether you call them a Business Process Owner (BPO), a Business Lead, or simply an Expert, this role is critical to the effectiveness of your ERP implementation. Think of BPOs as the connector between the needs of the business and the development of the solution. They have an invaluable understanding of how the people, technology, and process work today and how they’ll shift in the future.

In our experience with hundreds of change projects, there are two common missteps that limit the change effectiveness of the BPO role during an ERP implementation.

• Defining the BPO role to narrowly focus on technology with little time for process and people
• Limited support to enable BPOs in their powerful role as change leaders

We’ll look at how to avoid these pitfalls and set up your BPOs – and the project – for success.

What makes an effective BPO?

You know the go-to employee who understands the ins-and-outs of your business process and takes it a step further to understand how this work impacts other parts of the business? This employee is a great candidate to step into the BPO role. An effective BPO knows how to manage a process from end-to-end and considers how it impacts upstream and downstream systems, tools and processes.

Defining the BPO role

It’s an ERP implementation so it’s natural BPOs are focused on technology, right? From a Change Management perspective, technology is only part of the story. To prepare users for Day 1 on a new system, we need the BPOs’ insights on what’s changing from a people and process perspective too. The expectation of BPOs to support Change Management activities should be embedded into the role from the start.

On a recent ERP implementation, the BPOs were skipping meetings with the training team. With delayed testing and major data issues, BPOs had become laser-focused on the technology. Our Change Management team worked with the project Steering Committee to prioritize training too. Skilled Training Developers understand the how-to of the technology but not the intricacies of how the new platform will interact with downstream processes and systems. Without the BPOs’ input, the training materials would lack critical context, customization, and detail that end users need to be successful.

Employing the hub-and-spoke model

By nature of their role and expertise, BPOs are positioned in the center, or hub, of the project. Similar to a bicycle wheel, business groups impacted by the ERP implementation radiate from the center like spokes. This classic hub-and-spoke model is ideal for large ERP implementations:

Solution. BPOs can facilitate a back-and-forth flow of ideas and input on the solution by working with the Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), leaders and other critical project stakeholders

Risks. By engaging with the business and talking about the solution and new processes, the BPO is better positioned to identify, raise and address risks

Communication. The small group of BPOs can amplify messaging about the solution through SMEs and others on the project team to reach a larger group of employees and customers

Just as a wheel can help get you there faster, it’s our experience that applying the hub-and-spoke model, with the BPO in the middle, can accelerate your ERP implementation change management efforts.

Enabling BPOs as change leaders

For some BPOs, this is the first time they’ll be stepping outside of the role as business or technical expert and into the critical role of change leader. Simply, a change leader helps others understand, navigate and, ultimately, adopt the change.

Communicator: Paint a clear, compelling picture of the what, why and how driving the change, including what’s changing in the future (and what’s staying the same). Engage with leaders and employees and discuss questions, ideas and concerns

Connector: Connect the dots across the business and coordinate resources and decisions

Coach: Influence and inspire action in others. Identify and manage areas of resistance

The Change Management team can support BPOs in their change leader role by providing framework and tools to share information and cultivate two-way discussions. They can support BPOs with hands-on coaching and change leader training too.
BPOs can be your project’s greatest change management asset if they’re given the time and the tools to succeed.

Looking to bolster the role and skills of Business Process Owners to accelerate change in your organization? Connect with us.