Team and individual level awards were given to best
performers on the new system.
Leading to motivated members working in inspired teams on the new technology.
As important as these practices was also Reliance's attitude toward technology.
This was a company that understood technology and
placed it center stage in strategy and operations.
The CEO was a business leader attuned to the strategic use of technology,
while the CIO had a sound understanding of the business.
The company's overall commitment to IT was reflected in an executive board that
believes strongly in the strategic value of technology.
The existence of firm-wide IT skills is a reflection of the place IT holds in
the mission statement of the firm.
All of these factors insured the involvement of various business units
in the company's digital transformation and the acceptance and
successful implementation of the ERP initiative at Reliance.
The company also made important changes to its organizational structure.
Instead of being organized in different business units and
functions, such as HR operations etc., the company was now
organized along business processes that cut across business units and functions.
As you see on this slide, each business process was headed by a process owner
who leveraged various business functions and implementing that particular process.
The process owners who managed a gamut of processes
worked closely with process champions who in turn managed and
ensured the implementation of specific processes within a broad process.
For instance, billing to cash was one major process managed by a process owner,
but within this larger process, billing, meter reading,
they were all sub-processes that were managed by process champions.
This led to bottom up integration and greater consolidation
across the organization in adopting business processes.
The digital transformation at Reliance highlights key questions
that you as senior managers, technology leaders, and business leaders
need to address to realize maximum returns from such a transformation.
What are the financial returns to these investments?
You need to adopt a longer-term approach in valuing investments as these.
For example,
many ERP implementations are accompanied by a temporary dip in market value.
You need to have the wherewithal to brace this dip and
manage the required change over a long period of time.
If the fundamental changes to your organization seem very costly and
risky, beyond your capabilities, you need to manage this risk better
by considering various options for implementation.
Pilot, staged implementation, wait and watch.
All of these will help you structure your investment and
manage the allied risk better.
Your course on finance for IT managers will get into some of these issues in much
greater detail than I have alluded to at this point.
And now we'll ask the question, was the implementation worth it at Reliance?