- 53% of businesses believe ERP is one of the priority sectors for investments.
- Only 5% of organizations use their ERP effectively to create and augment high-quality data, which is key to effective analytics and insights.
- 50% of ERP implementations fail the first time around.
The above statistics are compiled from a much more revealing post by Rajendra Roul titled: 60 Must-Know ERP Statistics Before Making a Buying Decision.
So ERP projects fail sometimes. How do you avoid becoming a statistic? The first step towards solving a problem is to recognise there is one.
Eric Kimberling, ceo and founder of Third Stage Consulting Group, lists several reasons for why ERP projects fail.
Why ERP projects fail:
Force-fitting technology in places that it’s not a good fit for
Taking on too much of the implementation work rather than allowing the client to take a more active role
Neglecting ERP data management, change management, and other critical activities
Staffing more people on the project than is required
Myopic focus on technology rather than the people and process dimensions of the project
The bias conundrum
Biases exists on all sides of the table.
Buyer side: People at the customer’s operations will have differing expectations (and apprehensions).
Buyer IT side: Desire to make the new system work like the current or legacy system (especially the homebrew kind)
User side: Some of these people will have difficulty adopting to a new way of working. Potentially siding with internal IT to “keep to the way things are”.
Seller side: Focused on selling features and functions and using successful projects as if all customers’ businesses are the same.
Integrator side: Usually share the same intent as the seller but with the added desire of positioning themselves as unbiased experts that can do more than the ERP project promises.
What it all boils down to is making sure you enter an ERP project minus the biases of a salesperson’s promises, or your own biases towards a brand and about a technology. Have an open-mind on what works and be willing to ask why things don’t work, the way they should.
Above all, don’t believe everything you hear. It’s not about when in doubt. It is about being willing to take the extra step to ask around.
There is wisdom in the old adage: the more you know.
