Three Weeks into South Africa

I had to visit my own site to see when the last time I posted. I was 25 days from my first Manhattan WMOS go-live, and perhaps those visiting here afterwards thought I may not have survived it! Well, I did, but spent many long hours in the days before and after the event.

As the new operations began to settle in, and as my role transitioned from post-go-live support to general optimization support, I found out that I might have the chance to join a project for two months in South Africa implementing the 2006 version of the Manhattan WMOS, combined with Vocollect's voice-picking technology.

With a chance to come to Africa for the first time, and also work on a Manhattan project outside of APAC, I decided it would be a great challenge and nice change of environment where I could continue to build on my knowledge of WMOS and it's application with a different customer. Three days before I was meant to leave, I received confirmation I would indeed be on the project...

So here I am in South Africa. Currently, I am staying in Port Elizabeth, working here for two weeks after one week in Johannesburg (Joburg). We are two weeks from go-live, and in many cases, I am reliving the experiences of my last project. At the same time, it is a new country, there are new team members, and a new customer with a completely different set of business requirements. This all tests one's ability to adapt and learn rapidly in a high-pressure environment.

However, with no local Manhattan office, the challenge of being far from a support center can be frustrating. For most of my three weeks, I have been the only MA resource on-site, taking the place of another resource who left shortly after I arrived in-country. But we have a quality partner here that I have enjoyed working with, and despite the numerous challenges, I have learned a great deal in a very short period of time.

I am hoping with time that I can begin to absorb the reality of actually being in South Africa. Work has taken up a disproportionate amount of my time, but the country here can be quite beautiful and I have been fortunate in that I am staying at a beautiful guest house near the ocean, with fantastic hosts.

If I do remain here for the full two months, I hope to learn enough to share South Africa with others and provide some insight into the supply chain challenges here, and where the industry is heading.