Every single organization changes, from 1 - 10,000 employees.
Read on to see why employees resist and how to get them on-board with your plan.
"All organizations experience periods of much-needed change in order to achieve the results they need to grow, compete and win. Changing or improving the company or team requires focus, accountability and consistency. And it must be led from the top. Without total and complete buy-in from the senior leadership team the desired change will fail to be achieved." says Brent Cleeson with Forbes
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Consider the following possible concerns:
(2)
- Loss of status or job security - Without a thoughtful change strategy to address resistance to change, you will trigger strong resistance and organizational turnover.
- Poorly aligned reward systems - As the saying goes, managers get what they reward. without a reward for your team, there is no motivation for them to support your change over the long term.
- Surprise and fear of the unknown - The less your team knows about the organizational changes you're planning and its impact, the more fearful they become.
- Peer pressure - As the psychologist Abraham Maslow discussed, the need to belong to a group is a powerful need in the workplace. If your change effort threatens these workplace social bonds, some of your team members may resist your change efforts.
- Climate of mistrust - Trust is a fragile asset that is easily harmed, it involves faith in the intentions and behavior of your organization's hierarchy .
- Fear of failure - Fear is a powerful motivator that can harden people's intent to resist your efforts to implement change. If you want your change effort to be successful, you'll need to help your team members move beyond these fears.
- Faulty implementation approach - Team members may agree with the change you want to implement but they may not agree with how you are going about making the change.
Resistance is a fact of organizational change, now what are you going to do about it?
The "buy-in" of the innovators and early adopters in your organization is critical to change, big or small.
Engage your employees - employee engagement is both an emotional commitment and a willingness to give one’s best at work.
E
mployee engagement is a valuable tool during the decision process but you also have an incredible opportunity to engage staff during the implementation process and the effect will be better than you bargained for. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you about the rewards that team building and staff empowerment have on productivity.
Get your team involved!
Understand that resistance is inevitable and move forward with that understanding. Build a strategy plan to help your team perceive your changes in a positive way and to change anyone with a negative perception over to your way of thinking. Ensure your team has a true understanding with at least a perceived amount of control and you are well on your way.
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Below is an example of a what you get for an incredible price when you work with RDB Solutions.
“For several years, our company used another accounting software product. It had been so modified and customized to match our order entry and accounting needs that it became nearly impossible to teach new employees how to use it. I first heard about Lumber Expert at a trade show and was very interested in seeing a demo.
IMMEDIATELY, I was impressed!! I couldn’t believe there was a lumber trading software product written, designed, developed, and labeled in lumber-related terms by a group that understood the entire lumber sales process. What took so much time to complete before was now simplified into just a few actions, forms, pages, layouts, and click-through menus that were labeled in a manner that needed no extra explanation.
The switch to Lumber Expert was 1000 times easier than I had anticipated. A rep came to our site and spent several days working with our team during the transition. They were readily available by phone and email afterward. My only wish is that we had made the sensible change to Lumber Expert years before we did. Now our sales team can focus more on sales instead of trying to work with an odd, non-industry related software system. Lumber Expert (Trader Expert) makes our company more efficient, reliable, and effective."
Pat Mawhinney – Vice President/Trader – Lumber Specialists, LLC
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Lumber Expert includes several modules, one of which is Trader Expert: A tool designed specifically for traders to have the information they need to get the job done – at the click of a button!
Trader Expert runs as a separate module but
is fully integrated with Lumber Expert,
designed to help a trader run his/her business with ease.
Highlights include:
- Mill and customer lookup showing, open, late orders, pending orders (orders issued but not yet entered), uninvoiced orders (orders shipped and not invoiced) and invoiced orders
- Customer status displayed: available credit and past due
- List of all orders for the trader logged in with the same tabs available as above
- Immediate order number issuing for mills or customers
- Order printing, emailing and faxing
- Shipping information entry
- Inventory inquiry – details what is on-hand, on-order, committed, available to sell and net position
- Product inquiry – what mill has produced which product(s) or what customer has purchased what product(s) or product components
- Margin inquiry shows on a day-by-day basis, buys and sells, by trader.
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Lumber Expert Information | RDB Solutions
A great overview of the Lumber Expert software system. Download our PDF whitepaper.
Read more
rdb-solutions.com
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Yes, it is worth it, in the end!
Software integration is like pulling up the carpet in a fully furnished home, it is a challenge regardless of the transition length or size. Your new software company should have an integration plan with a carefully thought out schedule to discuss with you. A few examples of items to anticipate from your software company are:
- Gain remote access to the server
- Install database software
- Install Lumber/Trader Expert on server
- Overview meeting with staff
- Enter master data
- Detailed staff training
- Overview meeting with traders
- Training for traders/sales
In the interest of minimizing interruptions to your company, the following are several items to engage your staff in building a quality implementation plan:
As I mentioned in one of my previous blog posts,
How to Choose the Right Software Company for you,
employee engagement is a valuable tool during the decision process but you also have an incredible opportunity
to engage staff during the implementation process and the effect will be better than you bargained for. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you about the rewards that team building and staff empowerment have on productivity.
So, how do you engage your employees in the implementation process?
Anne Prins,
Director of Growth at Hot Air Blog says, “
Evaluate each of them to determine which of the five groups they fall under”, see below:
[i]
- Innovators - These are technology enthusiasts by nature, and they're excited to dive in and figure out how the new software can improve their existing workflows. Engage & encourage these Innovators! They will be your champions of change.
- Early Adopters - Like innovators, these users will try new software faster than the majority. Getting buy-in from this group is critical because their opinions influence how the Early Majority feels about trying the new tool.
- Early Majority - This group is more practical in their approach to new software. The Early Majority typically waits until the software is vetted by others. They want to know how new software improves their existing workflow before they feel comfortable adopting it.
- Late Majority - These users will only adopt new software when they need to, or when it becomes unreasonable not to. The Late Majority will use the software once you’ve made it a concrete part of your business operations.
- Laggards - Laggards tend to use familiar technology and software as long as they possibly can. They’re often uncomfortable learning and using new tools. The only way to move this group may be to force them to use the new software by eliminating legacy options.
Create an understanding with your staff, engage them early and often, set specific goals and update staff with your timeline regularly. We all know who the decision makers are but your staff will certainly appreciate your efforts.
Training should be flexible and meet the needs of your company. Do you want individualized in-person or online training? Do you want instructor-led training classes? Do you want the software company to train a team of your employees on the processes so they can train the rest of your staff? There are options and it is up to you and the software company to navigate what the best option is for your company. It is important to show your employees how exciting this transition is, how useful the new software will be for them, and to set a fair but firm timeline.
Let’s set real and proper expectations here. Having a transition path doesn’t mean that you won’t have any hiccups while integrating. What it does mean is your new software should have utilities that will transition the information from your database(s), i.e. vendors, customers and general ledger accounts from your old software to your new software or, at least, have the ability to code one for you. This saves time in transition and helps to alleviate some of the stress.
With the ease of use, I see $avings! Who doesn’t like a stronger bottom line? If your new software is easy to use, it will likely be easy to learn, manage data entry errors, and increase productivity. The effect of this is seen in the strength of your team and, of course, your bottom line.
Taking your company through a software transition is stressful regardless of how much you prepare or how great the software company is. The best way to ensure the least amount of stress is by following the steps outlined above. Make sure to encourage employee engagement, know your needs, and build a viable plan for transition. If you follow these steps, your transition will be as stress-free as one can possibly be.
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We
VALUE
our customers and we thank them for their feedback. Please take a moment to read through a testimonial or two.
"West Coast Industrial Lumber has used Lumber Expert/Trader Expert software for 10 plus years and are very pleased with the program. The support we receive from RDB Solutions is outstanding. Anytime we have a need they are more than helpful. The staff is knowledgeable of their products and very friendly. West Coast Industrial Lumber would recommend RDB Solutions and their lumber specific software if someone were to ask about our programming."
Lana Davis – West Coast Industrial Lumber Inc
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"The Lumber Expert software provided by RDB Solutions and their technical Support is hands down the only software to use in the Lumber Industry."
Rebecca West – High Desert Trading Inc.
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“RDB solutions has provided us with an excellent accounting software product. Second to none. The service has been excellent. Kevin is spot on with service.”
Andy West – High Desert Trading Inc.
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“For several years, our company used another accounting software product. It had been so modified and customized to match our order entry and accounting needs that it became nearly impossible to teach new employees how to use it. I first heard about Lumber Expert at a trade show and was very interested in seeing a demo.
IMMEDIATELY, I was impressed!! I couldn’t believe there was a lumber trading software product written, designed, developed, and labeled in lumber-related terms by a group that understood the entire lumber sales process. What took so much time to complete before was now simplified into just a few actions, forms, pages, layouts, and click-through menus that were labeled in a manner that needed no extra explanation.
The switch to Lumber Expert was 1000 times easier than I had anticipated. A rep came to our site and spent several days working with our team during the transition. They were readily available by phone and email afterward. My only wish is that we had made the sensible change to Lumber Expert years before we did. Now our sales team can focus more on sales instead of trying to work with an odd, non-industry related software system. Lumber Expert (Trader Expert) makes our company more efficient, reliable, and effective.
Pat Mawhinney – Vice President/Trader – Lumber Specialists, LLC
***********************************************************************************************
“The Buying Source, LLC have been operating on Lumber/Trader Expert for several years now. Lumber Expert is the core of financial reporting for our company. After using a couple of other Software programs for small businesses, Lumber Expert is by far the most suited program for our industry.
Order Entry is straightforward and retains all pertinent information for each order. Orders are easily converted into invoices with just a few steps. Customers may receive their invoices electronically, therefore, the turnaround for payment is more adequate. Cash Receipts and Cash Disbursements are effortless with the exceptional record-keeping you will find in LE. The steps are minimal. AR Collections allows you to keep track of past due invoices & keep notes that may be essential when collecting from customers.
I have 4 bank accounts to reconcile & the Bank Reconciliation module saves me loads of time & frustration. User mistakes do happen but with the multiple reporting options available, errors on any transactions are easy to account for & correct. Being able to keep track of late shipments, past due accounts, credit limits, customer & vendor purchasing history, just to name a few aids in keeping our business running efficiently.
Technical support is rarely needed but for those few times Kevin has been available & on top of what we needed.”
Kriste Lance – Office Manager – The Buying Source, LLC
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“I have been using Trader Expert for about 4 months now. It has made my day to day operations much faster to complete. Order processing takes me about a third of the time it used to. The tracking of orders and follow-up is so easy it allows me the time to do much-needed business development. Truck Order and Logistics are very fast. All in all a big time saver and organizational plus. I would recommend to anyone in the industry.”
Mark Kennon – Trader – Lumber Specialists, LLC
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If you haven't had a chance, check it out.
We frequently update the website with new content, so check back or join us on any of our social media and get updates as we post them.
(see links at the bottom of this newsletter)
Have a blog post idea or a question regarding content, please
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Why you should give us a call?
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Why should you schedule a
FREE demo or consultation? That's easy.
You are our priority, it's all about you and we know it!
During your consultation, we will guide you through our software and services utilizing our five-point quality assurance process.
- Integrity – The foundation of our business. We strive to always act with the highest of standards in ethics and transparency. This will guide your understanding of our processes.
- Excellence – In all manners of business from performance to experience. As a customer, you can always expect our absolute best. We are proud of what we do and how we do it.
- Accountability – We keep our promises and deliver on our commitments.
- Collaboration – We listen to and support one another. At our foundation we value working together. We believe in working together to improve our business, and to better support our customers.
- Inclusion – We believe that inclusion drives our business. With an enriching and inclusive environment, we have set you up for success. We work with you, as our driving force, to build the best software solution for your business.
As we walk through the process of understanding your software needs, we will be happy to maximize your time by working from an already existing pool of written code and newly written code to develop the solution that will maximize profits and productivity.
We will help you:
- Define the objective
- Determine the best technology
- Prototype screens and processes
- Define reporting requirements
- and so much more…
Industries currently serving:
- Lumber Wholesale
- Steel Wholesale
- Coffee Distribution
- Telecom Re-billing
- and so much more…
After your Business Solution Consultation, we are ready to begin developing your custom solution. Again, we maximize your money by utilizing a deep well of already existing and improved on code developed over the past
20 years. We apply that vast knowledge to our agreed upon solution to build you the all-inclusive and robust software you've been searching for.
We Listen. We Collaborate. We Deliver. These aren’t simple words to us, they are our driving force. We say what we mean, and in doing so, we can easily focus on simplifying the process for you, from your consultation through implementation and training.
Upgrade to Expert
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Click the image above to check out our blog for more insights and to locate previous versions of this newsletter.
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“Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves.” –
Steve Jobs
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Services | RDB Solutions
We are a privately owned consulting company specializing in custom application development and inclusive business solutions. At RDB Solutions we pride ourselves on our customer relationships. Contact us now for a free consultation 541.330.5483!
Read more
rdb-solutions.com
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Lumber Expert is an all-inclusive and robust application designed for the wholesale and distribution industries. It encompasses: order processing, management, inventory control, a fully integrated accounting module, and financials.
Lumber Expert contains many modules, one of which is Trader Expert. TE was specifically designed for traders and has everything they need to get the job done. This includes: order and inventory management, product inquiries, and account management.
Lumber Expert provides all the accounting and back-end functionality with an intuitive workflow that’s easy to understand, reducing training costs and increasing accuracy.
Want to save time and money?
Email us
for your complimentary consultation.
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Successful Accountability
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We know you are looking for a company you can count on, one you can believe in. Serving businesses is not just what we do, it’s who we are. Over the years we have honed our software to the fine specimen it is today. We’ve been so successful at this because, as a team, we make ourselves accountable. We see or in some cases hear about a potential change that we may need to implement and we move on it.
We are always willing to:
- Proclaim that something needs to be done.
- Accept personal responsibility for tackling an issue, while always ensuring we are accountable with budget decisions.
- Make positive choices and decisions to act while thinking deeply about the consequences of each choice.
- Set high expectations for ourselves and our team.
It is important to us that our customers’ needs are heard and validated. All of these reasons and more are why we have produced some incredible solutions for our customers.
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