Effectively Implementing Entity Management Solutions in Large Organisations: The Human Element
In the realm of large corporations, the struggle to implement entity management solutions successfully is a common challenge. Why does this persist, and why does it matter? It matters because, even today, a staggering 89% of organisations encounter obstacles in legal entity management, with up to two-thirds lacking access to dependable global legal entity data. This presents a significant compliance issue, with potential repercussions ranging from complications in license renewals to hindrances in business transactions such as divestment or acquisition, ultimately translating into million-dollar losses.
Simply acquiring software to store data won’t suffice in addressing this issue. The “garbage in, garbage out” principle applies—no matter how robust the software, it cannot rectify flawed input. The crux of the matter lies beyond software acquisition; it’s about tackling the challenges inherent in maintaining reliable and comprehensive datasets, ensuring their ongoing accuracy, facilitating secure yet accessible data access, and tapping into local expertise.
The Real Hurdle: People
Contrary to a simplistic view, the primary obstacle isn’t resistance to adopting new technology or solutions within larger organisations. Instead, it’s a nuanced interplay of factors, predominantly revolving around human involvement.
Localised Management: In many large organisations, entity management tends to be fragmented or decentralised, often divided between finance and legal departments. This decentralisation leads to information dispersal across various silos, hindering effective ownership and responsibility. Relying on numerous stakeholders for compliance maintenance inherently compromises data reliability.
Localised Know-how: Local expertise often remains siloed, creating dependencies on individuals within the organisation. If a local expert departs, crucial knowledge leaves with them, necessitating reacquisition at a significant cost.
Lack of Clear Ownership: Legal departments, already burdened with various priorities, often find themselves managing corporate secretarial tasks amidst collaboration with other departments and external stakeholders. The absence of clear ownership exacerbates the pressure, resulting in delayed information, incomplete knowledge, and perpetual urgency.
Change Management: Entrenched practices and shared responsibilities breed resistance to change. Altering established habits proves to be the most formidable challenge in implementing new technology or processes. Neglecting change management often leads to failure in adoption, rendering datasets unreliable and incurring hidden costs.
Addressing the Entity Management Headache
The Vision: Begin by comprehensively understanding how entity management integrates into the organisation’s operations and delineating its value propositions. Develop a cohesive vision statement elucidating the significance of qualitative entity management, aligning it with organisational goals and future strategies.
Change Management: Acknowledge the importance of change management in implementing new solutions. Appoint internal champions across affected departments, foster a shared vision, and facilitate early successes to catalyse adoption. Overcommunication is key to ensuring alignment and understanding across the organisation.
Rapid Onboarding: Minimise the gap between contract signing and onboarding onto the new solution. Swift implementation reduces the likelihood of disruptions and streamlines the transition process.
Choosing the Right Solution: Opt for a solution that addresses underlying challenges effectively. Klea, for instance, offers innovative approaches to data onboarding, smart document workflows, secure data access, and access to local expertise, resulting in faster, consistent workflows and reliable datasets, ultimately providing peace of mind to focus on value-adding activities.
In conclusion, addressing the challenge of implementing entity management solutions necessitates a holistic approach that acknowledges and mitigates the inherent human factors, alongside adopting the right technological solutions tailored to organisational needs.
