You finally got the budget. You picked the right ERP vendor. The contract is signed. But now you’re staring at the hard part: getting your team to actually use the thing.

If you’re a finance director or department lead in a local government office, you’re likely feeling nervousness, apprehension, or excitement. Maybe you've been through this before. The rollout goes live, the training ends, and… a few weeks later, half your staff is still using spreadsheets on the side. Or worse, avoiding the system altogether. And you spent thousands of dollars on this ERP system. You need your team on board with it.

You’re not the only one.

We’ve worked with hundreds of local governments during ERP transitions, and nearly every one of them has said the same thing: “The tech is the easy part. It’s the people part that’s hard.”

And they’re right.

Convincing employees to give up familiar tools (even broken ones) is never just about software. It’s about trust, workload, timing, confidence, and (let’s be honest) politics.

What makes our approach different? We realize that people don't often like change. It's scary, overwhelming, frustrating... but we've also seen that employees eventually fall in love with the new way of doing things. Because it actually makes their work easier. So instead of handing you generic advice, we’re going to walk through the real reasons staff resist ERP systems—and what you can do about it before, during, and after go-live.

(TL;DR) In this article, we'll cover your pressing questions:

• What If Our Staff Won’t Use the New ERP System?

• How Do I Talk to Staff About the New ERP System Without Making the Situation Worse?

• What Can I Do If Employees Are Already Frustrated with the New System?

• Who Should "Own" ERP Adoption—IT, Finance, or HR?

• What Does a “Successful” ERP Rollout Actually Look Like Internally?

• How Do Other Local Governments Get Their Teams On Board?

Getting employee buy-in is the make-or-break moment in your entire ERP investment. So let's get after it.

What If Our Staff Won’t Use the New ERP System?

It's the fear no one wants to say out loud: “What if we spend all this time and money rolling out a new ERP system… and our staff just doesn’t use it?”

It’s an extremely valid question.

ERP projects don’t fall apart because the software was too fancy. They stall when employees refuse to adopt the new system. Like when they default to their old spreadsheets, paper processes, or siloed tools.

Most ERP rollouts follow a common pattern:

1. You choose a tool.

2. It gets set up.

3. Then everyone crosses their fingers and hopes the rest of the employees fall in line.

But people rarely support what they didn’t help shape. If your team feels blindsided by the new system (or like their input wasn’t considered), they’re less likely to trust it, much less use it.

You might even be seeing early signs already: passive resistance, complaints, or a quiet “this too shall pass” attitude. Or, maybe it's a bit more blatant and loud. 

And if you're already mid-implementation and realizing users were sidelined early, it’s not too late to course correct. But now, the trust-building has to be intentional.

You might be tempted to throw more training at the problem. Send a training link in an email and you're done, right?

That probably won't work like you want it to. 

If people don’t understand why this change is happening, or how it helps them, or what their lives will look like after implementing, the training won’t stick. No one retains information they don’t care about. No one embraces a new system they see as an obstacle.

So start with conversations, not training links. Paint a clear picture of how the new ERP system reduces manual work, streamlines approvals, or cuts down on after-hours reporting chaos. Give real examples. Name the pain points it solves. Tell them how much faster they can get their work done. How many hours they'll save per week. How much less Tylenol they'll have to consume.

When people see what’s in it for them, they start leaning in. And then training will have a shot at working.

Still, don’t assume silence means buy-in. A quiet team might not be compliant; they might just be checked out.

That passive resistance is sneaky. No one complains in meetings. But the old spreadsheets keep showing up. That offline PO stack keeps growing. 

So how do you spot a stall before it becomes a full-blown failure?

You ask questions. Regularly. Casually. Honestly.

• “What do you like about the new software?”

• "Do you feel unfamiliar with any part of the software?"

• “What’s one thing that’s faster than it used to be?”

• "Can we sit down and go over some of the features I think will benefit us?"

• “How can I help?"

These questions force them to think about the positives of the software.  And it shows that you care about their success.

The goal shouldn't be to get someone in trouble, it’s to understand what’s not working. And fix it before frustration becomes disengagement.

Culture plays a huge role here. If leadership isn't using the system, it sends a message (loud and clear) that this isn’t a priority. And if leadership is dreading learning a new ERP system, so will the employees below them. But culture isn’t just top-down. It's also horizontal.

You need believers at every level, encouraging each other onward.

That might be a payroll lead who’s excited to ditch dual entry. Or a utility billing clerk who’s figured out how to automate part of their workflow and wants to show others how. These people are gold. They’re your peer influencers. 

Spot them early. Get their feedback. Let them share wins in team meetings. Their stories will move the needle more than any formal training ever could.

And that’s because what you’re really changing isn’t the software (even though it's that, too). You're changing habits.

When you shift systems, you’re reworking the muscle memory of how people do their jobs. You’re touching daily routines, shortcuts, approval flows. (Stuff that could feel second nature.) Essentially, you're making their brains work in a different way. And they don't always like that.

Breaking those patterns and corresponding attitudes takes more than a login and a go-live date.

If your team believes the new system saves them time, reduces errors, and makes reporting easier, that’s when the magic happens. Not because they’re forced to use it, but because they want to.

How Do I Talk to Staff About the New ERP System Without Making the Situation Worse?

You know that look your staff gives you when you say the words “new ERP system”? Somewhere between the “I forgot my wallet” and “the Wi-Fi is down” look. It's not great.

We get it. Change in local government is tough. Not because people are stubborn (though sometimes they are), but because they’re human. And humans—especially the seasoned professionals who’ve kept things running smoothly for decades—don’t exactly jump at the idea of scrapping their well-known processes for something new and unknown.

But if you're planning an ERP rollout (or you're knee-deep in one), understanding that fear is half the battle. The other half? Addressing it without sugarcoating or spin. You have to be honest.

Your employees aren't change-averse because they’re stuck in the past. They’re cautious. The stakes are higher. The scrutiny is louder. The margin for error is a lot slimmer. And their reputation is on the line.

Here’s what you’re really up against:

• “We’ve always done it this way.” Not just a phrase, it’s a security blanket. When someone’s perfected a workflow over 15 years, asking them to start fresh can feel like pulling the rug out from underneath their feet.

• Fear of public failure. Every mistake becomes tomorrow’s front-page headline. (Or at least the subject of a fiery council meeting.) Especially when thousands of taxpayer dollars are spent...

• Worry about job security. Even in stable government roles, employees fear becoming obsolete if they can’t keep up with new tech. Or maybe they just fear not being needed anymore. Or not being the go-to expert. 

• Resource overload. Your teams are already juggling three roles. Now we’re asking them to climb a mountain, too? They're wondering how in the world they're going to add this to their plate.

So how do you move forward without dragging your team behind you (or bracing for a mutiny)? You get strategic.

1. Communicate Like You Mean It (And Say Why)

Nearly 4 in 10 employees resist change because no one bothered to explain the reason behind it. (Oak Engage, 2023)

Skip the corporate-speak. You're not running for president (I mean, maybe give it 10 years...).

Tell your team what’s actually happening, why it matters, how it connects to their actual work and community outcomes, and how it will benefit them specifically. 

This will cover most of the pain points you'll encounter. 

2. Involve Them Early (Not Just After Go-Live)

According to research by CEB, there is a disconnect between leadership and staff. Leaders think 74% of employees feel involved. But in reality, only 42% of employees say they feel involved. Ouch.

Get your best employees to help you determine which features are needed. Ask what they need. Let them attend demos or look up reviews for you. When people feel like they helped shape the change, they’re way more invested and likely to get behind the project. And bonus, it helps you catch issues before they come up.

3. Lead with Empathy (Not the wishy-washy kind)

You’re asking people to unlearn routines they’ve mastered. That’s a hard sell.

Recognize that fear isn’t irrational—it’s expected. Questions like “Will I mess up?” or “Will I have a job?” or "Can I learn this software?" are real and valid. So treat them as such. 

This is a time to say, "We understand this will take extra effort, and that it is not easy to learn a new ERP software quickly. But it will be better for our organization in the long run."

Instead, set up meetings or employee forums for asking questions and sharing concerns without recourse. And if those questions and concerns are passed on to implementation teams, then training will go even better. Even saying “we don’t know yet, but we’ll keep you posted” builds trust.

4. Let champions lead the change

People listen to their peers. That’s just human nature. Pick respected, well-liked employees who genuinely believe in the change. Train them well. Let them be your internal ambassadors.

They’ll calm nerves, offer real-talk guidance, and show others it’s not only doable, it will actually be better.

5. celebrate progress (even the little stuff)

Momentum matters. Highlight the wins, no matter how small: "Thanks to the new system, we cut down vendor check errors by 5% this month."  Those mini-successes help people believe the change is working. And everyone likes to feel part of something that’s winning.

So, change isn’t the problem. Fear is. And fear fades fast when people feel heard, supported, and part of the process. So treat your ERP system rollout like more than a tech project. Treat it like a culture shift. One conversation, one champion, one win at a time.

What Can I Do If Employees Are Already Frustrated with the New System?

You survived go-live. Congrats! The system’s live, and your inbox is now full of passive-aggressive “just circling back” emails about login issues. Welcome to the (not-so) fun part: adoption.

Launch day is mile one of a much longer race. And if you don’t check in early and often, all that work you did to get to this day can unravel fast.

Phase 1: The First 30 Days – Acknowledge, Listen, Triage

This is the “everyone’s-smiling-but-also-slightly-panicking” phase. You’ll notice some signs.

Maybe a few extra sick days. Maybe some vague complaints like “it just takes longer now.” Maybe someone’s printing out screenshots of the dashboard and taping them to their monitor because “it’s easier."

Don’t ignore those red flags. This is the window where trust can either be rebuilt or completely erode.

Think of it like tech support triage. You need a visible, responsive team that’s answering questions in real-time. Ideally, it’s a mix of your internal champions and support folks who know the system.

This could mean setting up a help desk (real or virtual). Make it obvious where to go for help. A dedicated Teams/Slack channel could offer a solution. Do what works for you.  If someone has to file a support ticket just to ask how to generate a report, you’ve already lost momentum.

And here’s a little truth: some of your employees are frustrated, but too polite (or nervous) to say it out loud. So ask anonymously.

Drop a three-question survey in their inbox:

• What’s taking longer than it used to?

• What’s something you want to know how to do?

• What do you wish you knew before we launched?

• What could be improved?

Keep it short. Keep it safe. And actually read the responses because silence doesn't mean satisfaction.

According to Capterra, nearly 30% of employees say their employer never asked for feedback after a change. Now, you don't have to do that. But it’s one way to possibly make disengagement permanent.

Your supervisors and department heads are living in the weeds. They know who’s struggling, who’s quietly fixing workarounds, and which processes are bottlenecking.

For them, skip the formal survey. Grab 30 minutes, shut the door, and ask:

• What’s broken?

• Who’s failing?

• What workarounds are already happening?

• How can I help?

They’ll tell you. And what they say now will save you pain later.

Phase 2: 30 to 90 Days – Refine, Rebuild, Re-train

Once you’ve surfaced the issues, resist the urge to overreact. You're trying to avoid launching “ERP Training 2.0 – The Reckoning.” So you need strategic course-correction.

Most people forgot half the ERP training the minute they left the room (Userlane says 70% within a month). So if your solution is another three-hour training, good luck with that.

Instead, meet them where they are. Show them your ERP's support site and knowledge base. If they have training videos, show your employees where they are. You could even create your own video library with role-specific tutorials like:

• “Submitting a PO”

• “How to Find a Vendor”

• “Reworking a Report”

Make them short. Make them searchable. Make them relevant.

And every office has that one person still using the old process “just in case.” Don’t shame them. Help them.  

Pair them with a peer who’s already using the system successfully and who understands them as a person. A buddy system works better than a lecture. And when they hear, “Hey, I used to hate it too but now I actually save time,” it clicks.  

When someone wins send a thank-you email and blast it company-wide:

• “Thanks to the new time entry process, so-and-so shaved two hours off payroll prep this week. Fantastic job!”

• “Utility Billing caught a duplicate payment in seconds, something that used to take 20 minutes to find. Great work team!"

The wins reframe the narrative. They are now part of a bigger story where they are part of a winning team.

Phase 3: 90 Days and Beyond – Embed and Scale

If you’ve made it this far and the complaints have slowed, don’t mistake that for total success. Quiet can mean contentment, but it can also mean resignation. So keep the momentum alive.

Schedule informal check-ins. Drop by desks. Send quick pulse surveys. Make feedback feel normal. BuildEmpire reports that 65% of employees want more feedback loops. Why? Because it makes them feel heard before things go awry.

If your directors are still asking for spreadsheets on the side, that sends this message: the system isn’t essential. So make ERP usage part of leadership behavior. Pull data live in meetings. Let them run their own reports. Ask for ERP-specific reports. If the top doesn’t buy in, the middle never will.

Start tracking usage: logins, time to complete tasks, support ticket trends. Then tell people what it means.

• “Since rolling out the new Teams channel, payroll help tickets are down 30%. Glad to see everyone supporting each other!”

• “80% of staff logged in last week. Up from 60% in April. Good to see!”

When you share the numbers and connect them to actual relief or wins, it reminds everyone that this wasn’t arbitrary change. It was purposeful. 

You want your team to use the ERP software. But you also want them to trust it. And that trust is built slowly through quick wins, open ears, team support, and a whole lot of patience.

So make your ERP system something they believe in because they helped shape it.

Who Should "Own" ERP Adoption—IT, Finance, or HR?

Finance should take the lead for ERP implementation. You’re responsible for budgets, reporting, compliance, and making sure the numbers actually add up. You understand the risks. And you see how the pieces connect.

But even as the lead, you can’t go it alone. ERP systems touch every department.

If you design the system based only on finance needs, you’ll miss the workflows, rules, and realities that matter to HR, Procurement, IT, Utilities, and Operations. There might also be complaints: “This wasn’t built for us;” “It doesn’t reflect how we work;” “Finance just made our jobs harder.”

Not exactly the legacy you want.

Leading doesn’t mean controlling. It means coordinating. Asking the right questions. Listening to other departments’ needs and factoring them into the build.

When Finance takes point and brings others to the table:

• You catch problems early.

• You build credibility across the organization.

• You avoid being seen as a bottleneck or a power grab.

• You roll out a system people are excited to use.

Finance is in the best position to drive ERP success. But leadership means pulling people in—not shutting them out.

So yes, own the project. Set the tone. Push it forward.

Just make sure you’re not designing an ERP system for only Finance. You're designing it for your whole organization. That's what real leadership looks like.

What Does a “Successful” ERP Rollout Actually Look Like Internally?

Forget the Hollywood version of an ERP go-live (Ha! Like anyone would actually make a movie about that...). No dramatic music, no slow claps in the break room, and definitely no confetti cannons.

In the real world (especially in local government), a successful ERP rollout is a process. A long one. And honestly? It’s not about perfection. It’s about progress.

You’re not trying to “go live.” You’re trying to stay live and get people to use the thing without quietly running back to spreadsheets behind your back. And you're doing this so that you can manage public finances more effectively, more efficiently, and build a stronger community.

So how do you measure success when there’s no applause?

You watch the internal journey unfold month by month. Here's how that typically looks.

Month 1: Everyone’s Just Trying Not to Drown

Let’s call this the “Survival & Support” phase.

You made it to go-live day. But now comes the real test: keeping the lights on while your team fumbles through login screens and tries to remember where to click.

What you should see:

• 90%+ of critical transactions running through the new system (even if it’s clunky). That’s a win.

• Consistent login activity. At this point, we’re measuring “are they using it?” not “are they loving it?”

• A flood of support tickets. Believe it or not, that’s a good thing. Radio silence would be worse.

What it looks like on the ground:

• People leaning hard on the champion team and knowledge base.

• Repeated questions (even the ones you already answered three times).

• Some venting, but they’re still showing up to training.

What counts as real progress:

• Major inefficiencies are getting squashed quickly.

• Ticket patterns start to emerge, helping you refine FAQs and micro-trainings.

• Early adopters are quietly saying, “Hey, this might actually work.”

Month 3: People Stop Panicking. Mostly.

Welcome to the “Learning & Leveraging” phase.

By now, some muscle memory is forming. The tone shifts from “How do I survive this?” to “Okay, how do I do this again?” It’s still not smooth sailing, but the water’s definitely calmer.

Buy-in starts to look like this:

• Fewer rogue spreadsheets from old systems.

• Lower ticket volume for basic tasks. Less “how do I log in?”

• First signs of curiosity. When users start asking, “Can the system do X?”—that’s gold.

User behavior evolves:

• Training sessions get more specific. People want to learn real shortcuts now.

• Peer-to-peer help happens naturally.

• Resistance begins to thaw. Not gone, but melting.

What success sounds like:

• Slightly quicker month-end closes.

• Internal champions leading the charge (or at least showing others how to bookmark that one screen).

• You’ve implemented one or two system tweaks based on user feedback—maybe a cleaner layout or a new shortcut.

Month 6: The ERP Feels comfortable

Now we’re in the “Proficiency & Proliferation” phase.

By now, if things are going well, the system is no longer “new.” It’s just how work gets done. People are confident. They're poking around. Some will even say nice things about it. 

Here’s what buy-in looks like now:

• 90%+ of users consistently using the right modules.

• New hires start in the ERP without hiccups.

• Staff start suggesting their own improvements. (That’s a great sign they’ve taken ownership.)

What engagement looks like:

• Routine tasks are faster and cleaner.

• Users are building dashboards and exploring reports.

• "Power user" sessions get good turnout (and questions are more about optimization).

• The system has groupies.

Tangible wins:

• Fewer manual errors. Smoother audit trails. Shorter processing times.

• Leadership is pulling reports from the system, not waiting for someone to cobble something together.

• You’re scheduling proactive reviews and small improvements, not fighting fires.

Bottom line, it's progress over perfection. If you’re 6 months into a new ERP and expecting universal applause, you’re probably setting yourself up for disappointment.

But if you’re seeing increasing confidence, fewer workarounds, and small but meaningful time savings: That’s success. That’s buy-in. Keep tracking it. Keep celebrating the "boring" wins.

Because in public sector finance, the boring wins are what keep the community afloat.

How Do Other Local Governments Get Their Teams On Board?

ERP adoption is about shifting mindsets, habits, and workflows across entire departments. Cities and counties who’ve pulled this off successfully treat it like a human project (not an IT one).

Here’s how they did it and what you can borrow:

1. They Connect the Change to Public Service

People work in local government because they care about their communities (and they tend to have great benefits). Smart ERP rollouts speak to that.

Successful agencies talk about how the system will:

• Make life easier for residents. “This system will cut down permit approval times, making it easier for residents to build homes.”

• Promote accountability. “We’ll have real-time financial data to show taxpayers exactly how their money is being used.”

• Free up staff for more meaningful work. “Automating this means our team can spend more time improving budget strategy.”

• Improve citizen communications. "Now we can track that grant for the new infrastructure and keep citizens informed more often."

A 2024 literature review on ERP in public sector reform found that transparency and accountability (not just automation) were the top drivers for ERP success. And those values resonate deeply with public sector agency staff.

2. They Bring People Into the Process Early (and Often)

If your first announcement about the new system is at a kickoff meeting, you’re already behind.

Other governments found success by inviting people in before decisions were made:

• Involve employees from different departments to share pain points and weigh in on what they need from the new system.

• Tap respected peers (not just managers) to serve as informal trainers and advocates. As we stated earlier, real buy-in comes when employees feel ownership over the solution.

• Start with one small group and refine from there. The feedback is gold, and early wins build momentum.

Remember that survey that showed that while 74% of leaders believe they included staff in change strategy, only 42% of employees felt included? It matters more than you think. The agencies that close that gap tend to see adoption go a lot smoother.

3. They Communicate Like Humans, Not Robots

When change hits, people crave clarity, not corporate jargon.

Other agencies used diverse communication strategies: town halls, department meetings, emails, internal websites, and informal huddles. And they did it by focusing on what their employees care about:

• “How does this affect  me?”

  • “You’ll be able to check your own leave balances from your phone. No more printing paper timesheets.” 

  • "It will drastically cut down calls from customers."

  • "You will be able to gather all reports for year-end faster. It will be much less stressful."

  • "Vendors won't be hassling you for payments all the time."

Don’t pretend it’ll be painless. Share what might be bumpy and how support will work. Communicate early and often about why the change is needed and what happens if it doesn’t happen.

Again, nearly 40% of employees resist change because they don’t understand why it’s happening. You can fix that with honest, consistent updates in plain language.

4. They Dig Into the “Why”

ERP success depends on understanding.

As one SSI Implementation Consultant told us, “The ‘why’ of a process helps us know if something needs to be customized or if we can get the same result with best practices.” In other words, success starts with curiosity.

She recalled a particularly tense moment during one rollout: "A county auditor literally shut down her team’s computers mid-call because she felt they weren’t ready. We got through it by listening, addressing her concerns, and working side-by-side until she felt confident. When I saw her at a conference months later, she gave me a hug."

That kind of turnaround happens by acknowledging that behind every hesitation is usually a real concern.

Even on smaller changes (like shifting bank recs from Excel) we've seen resistance melt away when customers finally see the benefits through using the system.

"Once they understand how the new process reduces errors and cuts reconciliation time, they’re usually open to trying it. And by year-end, they’re not scrambling for the auditor anymore."

So local governments who have been successful understand their team. They find out why there is resistance. They discover why a training isn't sticking. They work with the ERP implementation team to gain confidence in themselves and the process. 

The "why" is the main plot of the story. The motivation for the employee. The method to the madness.  

And your job as a leader is to make the "why" as clear as possible to your employees. The local governments that do that succeed faster and go further.

5. They Celebrate Progress Along the Way

Change fatigue is real. But you can fight it by making wins visible.

Other governments use:

• Mini case studies: Share how the parks department saved five hours a week. Or how HR cut onboarding time in half.

• Before-and-after stats: "Month-end close now takes 3 days instead of 7." (That’s a serious morale booster.)

• Praise for effort, not just results: Shout out the finance clerk who helped her whole team get over the training hump. Small gestures go a long way. People love to feel appreciated.

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. The cities and counties that pulled off ERP adoption did it by involving people early, listening often, supporting them through the messy parts, and constantly tying the project back to the mission: serving the public better.

You’ve invested in a new ERP system because you want your agency to run better—faster reporting, fewer errors, easier audits, and more time for high-value work. But none of that happens without your people.

ERP Adoption Is a People Project—Treat It That Way

The software might be powerful. But adoption is where the real ROI lives. Because until your employees log in, learn it, trust it, and use it daily, the system is just another tool collecting digital dust.

You don’t have to get it perfect. You just have to get it moving.

Lead with empathy. Involve your team early. Keep the feedback loop open. Use internal champions to build momentum. Celebrate progress,  not just outcomes. And remember that success isn’t marked by go-live day, it’s built in the months that follow, one win at a time.

ERP adoption is a culture shift.

But if you put people at the center of that shift, you’ll get more than compliance. You’ll get true buy-in and a system your team will actually believes in.