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Atto
Abrasives Ltd
6 . Lessons learnt
There were a substantial number of lessons learnt during
the implementation to date of this project.
1. The importance of mentoring to project success
- åtto
had three mentors supplied by Enterprise Ireland
at different stages of the process. The åtto
team found their input invaluable. They were able
to pinpoint weaknesses in various suppliers’
proposals and to offer a general sounding board
and source of advice. It effectively replicated
a board structure for a small company.
2. Implementing
a new package
- Another
key learning was that the Irish implementation team
from GEAC had not implemented the system in full
before. The software side of things was fine but
the weakness came in on the hardware side. There
were some difficulties with the server, which led
to an underestimation of the resource requirements
for implementation. The problem was overcome by
bringing in GEAC resource from the UK who had more
implementation experience. The learning was to check
the implementation experience of any supplier.
3. Managing
consultants successfully
- The
åtto team felt that they developed very constructive
relationships with the consultants and a strong
overall implementation team was built. The key to
this success was a substantial investment of time
up front in order to iron out who owns which parts
of the project. They key is to avoid any surprises
emerging in mid-stream of the project.
4. Highlights
weaknesses in own team
- The
project served to highlight weaknesses in åtto’s
team. The initial thinking was that they would grow
into the roles. Unfortunately this did not happen.
It highlighted a skills gap. The learning was to
not underestimate the specialised resource requirements.
It may be essential to hire from the external market.
Lee Rogers was hired specifically by åtto
because he had very considerable experience of managing
networks. His hire is seen as a key contributor
to the success of the overall project.
5. Infrastructure
problems with the utilities
- One
of the issues that åtto had was in getting
a reliable leased line installed. They have had
huge problems with their telco supplier in receiving
a reliable and robust service. Companies must consider
issues like this when planning any eBusiness developments
because problems can cause significant operational
problems. The challenge is often how to manage around
these impediments.
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