Automation of SACCOs - FSD Kenya

the system implementation there will be disruptions to operations. People
will need to learn and be accustomed to the new system, they need to be
comfortable with new roles and ways of working. This will initially lead to
lower productivity and performance. The risks of poor coordination between
these are known and include considerate drops in performance and delay
of benefits. These can be managed and avoided by considering some basic
steps.
Planning: Align the SACCO leadership, including executive management,
the board and any capability owners, on the key strategies, priorities
and questions relevant to the automation project. They need to have a
plan for how to actively lead the project and coordinate it with the daily
operations and other change projects that might be in progress.
Communication: Build understanding for the project using targeted
messages to specific stake holders (e.g. loans officers, collections
officers, tellers). Articulate a project vision and the business case. Invite
dialogue and feedback. Tie the messages to the overall transformation
in the SACCO.
Learning: Build skills and capabilities to enable behaviour and
process changes. Train on support roles, processes, tools, knowledge
management and metrics.
Leadership and ownership: Be proactive and define how business
processes and operating model need to change. Be aware of informal
structures and unwritten rules.
Organisational design: Align roles with responsibilities. Align incentives
and performance management.
Business readiness, measurement and adoption: Ensure ready to roll out
metrics. Measure outcomes by qualitative and quantitative assessment;
results and behaviours.
The graph below illustrates how performance can develop after a system
implementation. A decrease of some kind is difficult to avoid but with the
appropriate awareness, skill and plan the decrease can be limited and the
recovery will occur earlier.
Different kinds of change
It is important to be aware of that there will be different kinds of change in the
organisation as the SACCO implements the system. It involves the management
and the employees individually and they need to work together to move the
SACCO forward. Tactical change is the most basic, this is where the employee
gets used to the new physical environment, behavioural change follows as a
consequence but the cultural change needs to be managed and controlled.
It will not happen automatically and could be a missed opportunity for the
SACCO. The tactical change means that manual effort is truly reduced, the
behavioural change means that the employee contributes to making the most
of the system and a new culture means that the SACCO in every sense becomes
AUTOMATION OF SACCOS: ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS • 35
a new organisation offering better customer service, is more productive, can
easier comply with regulations and in the long run create more value for the
members than would have been the case if the system was just regarded as a
new piece of office equipment.
Figure 1: Illustration of performance drop after system
implementation
Key issues
The key things to monitor throughout the implementation which have
proven prone to cause issues are:
Ensure that all managers are aligned in terms of their objectives with
the automation.
Focus on the capability the entire SACCO can obtain, in contrast to
optimising each department as a silo.
Focus on the capabilities to drive business outcomes considering people,
processes and tools. Avoid a tactical focus on isolated features and
functions.
Maintain an overview of all projects at the SACCO and coordinate. This
is especially relevant if interdependent projects such as automation,
regulatory compliance and general financial performance management
(assuming that such projects will be core to the transformation) are in
progress simultaneously.
Provide sufficient resources.
Validate what are realistic expectations on project outcomes.
Ensure that the full scope of the change been understood.