Selecting A CRM Or ERP Software Super User
It’s no secret—especially if you’ve been following the blog—that a software super user is crucial when it comes to any kind of ERP or CRM implementation or integration project. However, with all the emphasis placed on the role, are you sure you know how to pick the right person for the job? It’s important to know who your superstar will be well before you get started on any of the big tasks of implementation; selection, process modeling, conference room pilots and end user procedures etc. That’s because they’ll need to be present and involved in each stage, so that they know the inner workings of both the business and the new enterprise system. So, how do you get started on picking a super user that will truly wear the cape for your new enterprise software?
Traits of an ERP Software Super User
Your ERP or CRM software super user will need to have several different values and personality traits if they are to succeed in this project-critical role. They’ll be there to be a trouble-shooter, a point of contact for the rest of the organization, and to act as relief for an IT team that will be overwhelmed with the nitty-gritty customizations and error-testing required of an ERP go live.
It might be first instinct to just look among your IT team for your software super user, but as mentioned, they’ll have other, more specific and intricate jobs to do. Especially if the enterprise software project that your business is about to undergo is significant or complex, your IT team will be working too closely to the structure and customizations of the software to be able to expand and simplify for an everyday user or employees who are having trouble grasping how to operate a process in the software. Secondly, being a stellar software super user requires more than just application know-how. They’ll need to be both a great listener and a solid educator—a presence throughout employee training and able to continue that training individually when troubleshooting with other team members.
Identify Those Excited for New Software
Obviously, you’ll want to ask for volunteers at the beginning of the ERP or CRM project. Someone showing the initiative to take on the job will clearly have the wherewithal to take on the significant mantle of software super user. When asking for volunteers, make sure you refer to our post of “The Importance of the ERP Super User” so you’ll be able to fully outline the workload of the role to potential recruits—you don’t want someone to sign up and back out only when they realize it might be too much work!
If it’s hard to find a volunteer ready to step up (and ideal to fit the role), it’s often easier to identify those excited for the new piece of software. Perhaps they were an employee advocating for the need for more advanced technology and lamenting inefficiency in business processes beforehand. Those that understand the need for ERP or CRM in a modern enterprise will be readiest to bring the rest of the organization around to the cause!
Knowledge of Software AND Business Processes
Because that software super user will be present during all the run up and pre-implementation processes, they won’t need to have vast pre-existing experience with the platform that you’re running on ERP—they’ll get familiar enough. Instead, you’ll want to focus your super user search on someone who will actively work with the new software daily; not someone who may only need to log some data in the system biweekly. The people most involved with system will, understandably, be those with the most knowledge of it and the most invested in its success. They will also have figured heavily into the business process modeling part of your implementation project, and understand how, and when, everyone else within the company is going to interact with the software. Once you’ve identified that ideal user—a blend of software excitement, computer know-how and patience when it comes to receiving and giving knowledge—your software super user (and thus your new enterprise software) will be well on its way toward success!
If you’re about to undergo an ERP implementation and need help constructing your roadmap, identifying your processes or selecting your own software super user, contact one of the experts at Datix today! We have over 18 years of enterprise software experience, and can act as liaisons between your company, your business processes and your technology so that your company (and its own super user) can come away experts on ERP or CRM too.