a Consultants perspective......

In 1990 when Gartner Group coined the term ERP how many of us would have thought this is going to be such an integral and important feature that all Businesses would be gunning for when everyone around was still talking about Cobol, Foxpro, Unix and Java. Y2K was a blessing in disguise as it brought everyone's attention towards their IT Systems.

Today you talk about any Firm irrespective of its Size the latest version of ERP Software available in the market is amongst their most prized possesion or should we say implementation. Everybody talks about how their profits have soared and how their existing processes have become streamlined and more effective all thanks to a successfull ERP implementation. CIO's and CEO's love discussing about the latest version of Oracle or SAP that their Firm has implemented and how it has helped improve the company's performance over a period of time.

Two decades have passed by since ERP has been around and their are so many Firms offering their expertise in ERP Consulting and Implementation services around the Globe. Mind you the Time and Costs involved in an ERP implementation are huge and various surveys over the period have suggested that almost 50% of Clients who wanted an ERP implemented feel that it was a failure or funds wasted with timelines and cost overruns. This brings us to the point where one thinks what is the main cause for such failure of a concept that has so much potential and long standing impact on the whole business and competitive dynamics as a whole.

First thing that one needs to look at is how committed was the Organization when it thought about implementing a ERP software. What has been observed many a times is that decisions are taken to go for an IT investment and some top notch Management Consulting Firm is hired who carry out due diligence, talk to Managers and come up with a plan wherein a certain ERP Software is suggested. Request for Proposals are called for and over various rounds of bidding contract is awarded to a single firm or group of firms for implementing the software.

Here starts the most crucial phase of a ERP implementation which unfortunately many a firm know but realise many a times during Go Live or after they have Gone Live. Change is the most Constant thing in life which unfortunately we all know but are the first ones to resist the same. The Key Users at Business have been working for many a years and are so habituated to using the existing IT Systems in place that they are not that forthcoming when it comes to being open to the idea of a better software and what additional features it has over the existing software. Users are so habituated to existing it systems that even requirements that they come up with are mostly minor improvements of existing systems than what new features and functionalities todays ERP systems come with which at many a times is the responsibility of the implementing consultant's responsibility to make the users aware of the broader perspective. The issue here is that the Users mostly comment and provide feedback/requirements based on the job function that they are involved in.

One needs to understand that when we say ERP it is a system which is fully integrated meeting all the functionalities and requirements of the organizational processes.

Regards
Twistedbrain.