An organization has to go through a lot before finding the ideal human resource management solution suitable for their business. But let’s say after watching tons of demos, scoping, and thorough evaluation, an organization finally decides to go with SAP SuccessFactors for apparent reasons. However, selecting the ideal solution does not mean that things will be smooth sailing. The more significant challenge to implement SAP SuccessFactors in your organization is the next and probably more substantial challenge.
There is no shortage of instances where organizations have repeatedly failed to successfully implement their SAP SuccessFactors solution. Why? Because most organizations often overlook the barriers or challenges that might arise in their implementation journey. Therefore, here are a couple of common reasons why organizations fail to implement SAP SuccessFactors successfully.
- Choosing the Wrong Implementation Partner: The market is filled with SAP implementation companies that promise great results but often fail to deliver. There have been many instances where choosing the wrong implementation partner has resulted in a failed implementation, leading to a waste of time, money, and other valuable resources.
This is a decision that needs to be thought out thoroughly instead of simply believing the claims made by these companies. One important thing to remember is that a good implementation partner will focus on delivering results instead of wasting time making big claims. Choosing the right implementation partner is important because they have the best implementation practices to provide insights into what other customers have done in similar situations.
Plus, their experience will allow them to determine the modules that should be implemented first, helping you develop a good and effective roadmap on how to go about the implementation. Hence make sure to sift through the market thoroughly before choosing the first implementation company you come across.
- Failing to Plan for Long Term Maintenance: This is one of the primary and most prevalent reasons why organizations fail to drive successful implementation of SAP SuccessFactors. Does not matter if an organization has the ideal roadmap, proper resources, and everything else, but failing to plan for the long-term maintenance of SAP SuccessFactors solution can result in a failure to adopt the solution.
There is no shortage of cases where organizations did manage everything with the initial implementation plan but later failed to adopt the solution. Therefore, it is very important to plan everything associated with your SAP SuccessFactors maintenance and daily administration. No matter how robust your implementation roadmap is or how well integrated all your modules are, it is imperative to understand that just like any other HR platform in the market, even SAP SuccessFactors requires resources to maintain everything ideally.
Additionally, you must keep in mind that SAP SuccessFactors is updated with product depreciations and new features or functionalities every six months. Hence you need to ensure that someone keeps track of these changes and their impact on your organization.
- Lack of Proper Resources: Implementing an integrated HR suite like SAP SuccessFactors is a huge undertaking for any organization. This means that an organization will have to dedicate time and human resources to ensure successful implementation.
Understandably, it will not always be possible to dedicate full-time employees to the implementation. But, one can assign different shifts to the employees to ensure that fail some people are taking care of the implementation. Additionally, one must ensure that the employees looking after the performance are equipped with the appropriate knowledge regarding SAP SuccessFactors.
Experts recommend having cross-functional teams dedicated to overseeing the implementation of every single module. This way, the cross-functional team can contribute by helping one come up with unique ideas that will ensure further smooth and hassle-free implementation of SAP SuccessFactors.
- Ineffective Vision and Strategy: First thing first, when one speaks of ineffective strategy in case of SAP SuccessFactors implementation, you must understand that it is not just about the implementation road map to implement every module as early as possible. But it is also about having a clear understanding of the motive behind the implementation of the HR suite, how it will help the business, and, more importantly, a unique approach towards implementing each specific module.
These things are important because many organizations tend to consider just the immediate requirements and rush into implementing the module to address that primary requirement. However, that is not an intelligent thing to do in the long run, as this will result in the ineffective implementation of modules, further requiring re-work on the same module. Implementations of this sort only result in wastage of resources, so the best that any organization could do is devise an appropriate roadmap and stick to that for ensuring successful SAP SuccessFactors implementation.
- Inadequate Communication: Most organizations implementing SAP SuccessFactors have the right people and other resources to implement the implementation. However, they often forget an essential thing to communicate about the performance, which leads to further unwanted complications that can turn a successful implementation into a failure.
People need to understand that implementing an integrated HR suite like SAP SuccessFactors means that the implementation will impact every person in the organization. This makes it imperative to communicate about the changes to people; otherwise, this can fail human adaptation. This goes without saying that inability to adapt to the new system will adversely impact the organization’s overall productivity. Therefore, make sure that you explain what is about to change and how it will benefit them. This way, you can enhance the chances of a successful SAP SuccessFactors implementation.
Final Thoughts
While implementing SAP SuccessFactors in your organization, keeping these common mistakes in mind might not always guarantee a successful implementation. However, it will undoubtedly enhance the chances of a successful SAP SuccessFactors implementation to a great extent. Therefore, make sure to communicate, devise an appropriate strategy, choose the right SAP implementation partner, align the necessary resources, and consider the long-term maintenance for a successful SAP SuccessFactors implementation.
