BearingPoint Finland Blog
An ERP renewal always has a large impact on the organization’s ways of operating. Systematic change management is required throughout the project to secure user adoption of the new processes. What is often overlooked, however, is that the renewal might also require a shift and change management in the ICT organization. This is due to changing tasks, some of which will no longer exist once the transformation is finalized.
As there is an ongoing shift from on-premise to SaaS solutions in the ERP market, there is also a need to start planning for changes in the ICT organization. The migration towards SaaS solutions moves traditional infrastructure and application software tasks, such as solution updates and server maintenance, to the SaaS solution service provider, which means that the ICT organization should reposition itself and update its capabilities. The ICT organization should proactively identify areas where it can add the most business value.
The repositioning of the ICT-organization should shift the focus away from the ERP solutions’ technical components and platforms towards managing the overall architecture, security, integration technologies and business continuity. In order to do that, there needs to be an understanding of the business demand alongside with strong technical and architecture know-how in selected areas, such as security and access control, as well as modern technologies for coherent data flows (e.g. mobile application extensions, data lakes and integration platforms). In addition, the ICT organization’s role in the maintenance of standards and methodologies should be strengthened. The ICT organization may also, if it is so decided, take an active role in managing and maintaining application software configurations. However, this is typically a role that is fulfilled by the system integrator partner.
As a part of the migration towards the use of SaaS services, the ICT organization needs to consider how the shift is going to affect their role and what are the needed competencies in the organization. These changes should be managed proactively to enable high value-add to the business and smooth ICT operations throughout the transition.
To conclude, ICT’s role becomes less operational and looking more toward the development of the company’s IT landscape through architectures and other standards. If the ICT organization succeeds in the transition, it will be better equipped to support the business going forward.
Kati Kolehmainen
Senior Manager, ERP Advisory
BearingPoint Finland