The Importance of Education
At Crestwood Associates, we know ERP implementations succeed because of people as much as software. That is why education is at the heart of The Crestwood Way. Over 25 years and hundreds of projects, we have seen the difference: teams that are educated early move faster, adopt more fully, and get more out of their ERP investment.
In this edition, we explore how education, done the Crestwood way, sets the stage for long-term ERP success.
Why Education Comes First
For many firms, education is treated as a late-stage training exercise right before go-live. At Crestwood, we take a different approach. High-level education belongs at the very start of a project.
When users understand system navigation, terminology, and workflow principles from the outset, every conversation that follows becomes more productive. Instead of explaining what a screen or field does, the focus shifts to how the system will truly support business goals.
Education Unlocks the “Secret Sauce”
Every business has a mix of common best practices and unique differentiators, the secret sauce. Education helps separate the two.
- Best practices: Many processes, such as AP, GL, and purchasing, do not need to be reinvented. With education, teams see why industry-standard workflows align well with the system, reducing the urge to customize unnecessarily. This saves time, simplifies onboarding, and accelerates adoption.
- Differentiators: The areas that truly set a business apart deserve focused attention. By educating early, we can dedicate energy to those differentiators, ensuring they are supported and extended in the system the right way.
- This balance: best practice where possible and differentiation where valuable, is only possible when teams are empowered with education first.
Education as a Change Accelerator
Education builds confidence, speeds onboarding, and improves collaboration. When people share terminology and system knowledge, decisions get made faster and with greater clarity. Projects move quickly from discussing how the system works to focusing on how it works for the business.
The Crestwood Way in Action
In practice, our education-driven methodology looks like this:
- Upfront training on navigation, terminology, and high-level workflow principles
- Contextual learning that maps best practices to business processes during working sessions
- Continuous collaboration that focuses on differentiators rather than making every process unique throughout the project
- Final end-user training followed by reinforcement through go-live, upgrades, and beyond
This is how education drives efficiency, adoption, and confidence.
Education Is Essential
Education reduces risk, accelerates value, and empowers people to thrive. When people are educated, they stop fearing change and start fueling it.
This Limited Series
This limited series is designed to unpack the principles that make The Crestwood Way a proven, repeatable path to ERP success. Today, we focused on education. In upcoming editions, we will share more about the other principles that drive adoption, efficiency, and scale.
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