Chronicles of Zitumbu (Part 2 of 3)

Dear Reader,

Thank you for taking your time to go over this non-sense story. If you need a ‘refresh’ please go back to Part 1, you wouldn’t miss anything important though

The moment of truth

Still during the kick off meeting, all seemed surreal. Paul my new boss looked agitated after hearing Martha’s and Juliana’s (Finance Manager & Accounting Supervisor respectively) objection in regards to missing components of the so called Global Solution. Paul, an experienced executive, dodged the ball –for now- by writing them down with the help of George –our politically correct project manager- in the extensive list of requirements or change requests. Catalina (Ethics & Compliance Manager) jump in the train and added that there were loopholes. As if all this weren’t enough, Susie -our Financial expert consultant- objected the proposed architecture of using ISVs (Independent Software Vendor) instead of leaving intact the strong capabilities of the new ERP selection –a much better fit. Time would give her the reason, despite the millions our savvy corporate team spent on the platform, already deployed in multiple countries

All objections were hit right and left, and put in the parking lot (a way to make note of a tangential topic -not directly related to the meeting, so that it can be discussed later. This is a great tactic to re-direct the conversation to the main agenda. Although this didn’t apply entirely as requests were substantial to the way of doing business at Zitumbu!). Therefore, Camilo –Zitumbu’s Regional Manager- made an overwhelming closing remark, which could be briefed as don’t mess with Zitumbu

Stages

Corporate team were clever enough, like the Big Five (Accenture, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, PwC; even the latter despite the fiasco they were recently involved) to have a crystal clear rollout strategy segmented in five stages -localization requirements gathering, design, build, UAT & training- which needed to be completed within the allotted time. Why? Because I say so (preferred Charlie’s term, our big boss, that could be heard from the speaker on a daily basis during our long toxic team meetings)

Despite the harsh circumstances, my trips to Zitumbu were exciting as my team, and I were focused on getting the job done doing a balancing act between a plain vanilla global solution offering, and fully-fletched business requirements from local team. Also, we found solace in Zitumbu’s culture, food, and most importantly their amazing people. Every weekday, we strolled to a different restaurant, an experience serving us a dual purpose: reinvigorate spirits while satisfying hunger

I remember with crisp images the day we were preparing material for our weekly progress meeting when suddenly, a tremor was felt in our offices about 30 minutes northeast of Zitumbu’s downtown. Everybody panicked at the fifth floor, and...TO BE CONTINUED

#ERP #implementation #businessprocess