It is an open secret that CEOs seldom involve themselves in the selection process of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems for their companies; instead, they tend to instruct financial directors and IT specialists to buy the best and most cost-effective ERP system that will work for their business. This is the opinion of Meryl Malcomess, Marketing Director of leading ERP software specialist SYSPRO.
For any company to reach its goals, the business objectives have to be determined upfront. It is these objectives that should be used as a strategic framework when they think about buying, implementing and operating ERP, and top management should be involved in the process.
Malcomess' opinion is endorsed by researcher CS Yu(1), who found that a staggering 40% of all ERP implementations or extensions perform below expectations, and 20% are scrapped as complete failures. It is for this reason that SYSPRO has published a book, Thinking About ERP, an executive's guide to setting strategy for buying, implementation and operating ERP, which was the brainchild of Malcomess.
"Throughout my career in the ERP industry, I have been fortunate enough to develop some insights into the challenges organisations face in implementing these large-scale business solutions," Malcomess says.
"There is a need for executive decision-makers to fully understand their organisations' business processes and requirements, as well as the potential impact and benefits of an ERP implementation, before a solution is chosen."
Using her extensive experience in the ERP industry, which spans almost two decades, Malcomess collaborated with independent consultants iPlan Engineers to address the problem and provide potential solutions in Thinking About ERP.
"For many years, I have found huge benefit in calling in iPlan to help organisations optimise the potential of their ERP software," Malcomess says. "These highly-skilled professionals have extensive, in-depth experience of ERP implementation projects and understand the full impact of ERP as well as its strategic importance to the organisation.
"As a result, iPlan is able to communicate the crucial decision points of any ERP project to the executive decision-maker, helping to tackle problems and aligning the executive strategy with the strategy on the ground."
The book is the powerful culmination of the experience iPlan has gained through intensive involvement in many ERP implementation projects. iPlan understands typical recurring problems such as failure to get senior management buy-in, resistance to change across the business, and a lack of clarity around project objectives.
By talking directly to the decision-maker, Thinking About ERP shows organisations how to drive the implementation from the top and focus on key performance measures. It demonstrates that by clearly defining what the ERP project is meant to achieve, organisations can achieve their strategic objectives.
"If you do nothing else before tackling your ERP implementation, read this book - it will make all the difference," Malcomess says.
1. CS Yu, 'Causes influencing the effectiveness of the post-implementation ERP system', Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 105, no. 1, 2000, pp. 115-132.
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