There Is A Lack Of Sensitivity To The Culture Factors In Specific Countries
This issue was mentioned, but not addressed. A common thread
through the book has been the cultural factors among countries and even parts of
a country. Here the issue is applied to software implementation.
Impact
Culture anywhere in the world dictates how you do business
and make money. It affects how you interact with customers and suppliers. While
there has been some common adoption of some “Western” ways, there remain local
nuances and mores. Culture affects the business rules. If the business rules of
the software package don’t match up or cannot be reconciled, then there are
bound to be problems. Something has to give—either the package fails or the
business is affected.
Prevention
The best prevention is
to understand the culture and business rules in each location at the start. This
is a very tall order so let’s simplify it. You should identify about 10–20
critical transactions that would be covered by a new system. Then you should
examine how these are carried out in each country in detail using the methods
from Chapter 2.
Action
You will begin to detect problems when business rules and
exceptions start appearing. People will ask “How will the system handle
such-and-such a transaction?” When they get an answer, look at their reaction.
If they are quiet and don’t anything else, you know that there is a problem.
They won’t discuss it where they are dominated by others. When the problem
arises, then you should lower the effort in the software implementation and go
back to the transactions and perform analysis.
Sections
Syndication
