ERP: The Time Tested Triangle of Truth

Those of us who deploy ERP systems for a living know clearly of the disconnect that sometimes occurs between clients who wish for the world but are less anxious to acknowledge the true costs – in time and treasure – of committing to a successful deployment of a new (or upgraded) business management system. So [...]

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Part 7 – Survey Results on ERP Implementation: Final Conclusions

Panorama Consulting surveyed businesses that had implemented ERP systems (large companies for the most part, but we note that the lessons for the small to midsize business are largely the same).  In our previous six posts we detailed many of their findings.  Today we’ll wrap up this series of posts with some of their final [...]

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Part 6 – Survey Results on ERP Implementation: Planned vs. Actual Costs and Timelines

We’ll do a quick recap of the key conclusions in Panorama Consulting’s survey of large firms that implemented ERP systems.  Even though their client base is large companies, we’ve noted frequently how closely the lessons and principles of those larger installations apply to our own clients in the Small to Midsize Business (SMB) market space. [...]

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Part 5 – Survey Results on ERP Implementation: Costs

As we continue our review of Panorama Consulting’s survey of ERP implementations, we come to the critical component of Cost. As their summary states: “There are many considerations that factor into total cost of ownership. Many companies underestimate these costs and ultimately go over budget as a result. Understanding all of the items that make [...]

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Part 4 – Survey Results on ERP Implementation: Benefits Realization

We’ve been reporting the past few posts on the 2012 survey findings of Panorama Consulting, a firm specializing in ERP implementations for larger companies.  Many of the lessons they’ve learned we’ve found applicable to the small to midsize (or SMB) market, based on our own 25 years of experience in the arena.  Today, we’ll look [...]

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Part 3 – Survey Results on ERP Implementation: Best Methods

As a recent study by Panorama Consulting, which bills itself as “the world’s leading Independent ERP consulting firm” points out, ERP implementations generally occur in one of three ways.  Each has an effect on employee buy-in, which has been shown by them and other industry experts to be one of the most critical factors in [...]

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Part 2 – Survey Results on ERP Implementation: Change the Software or Change the Business?

We noted at the end of our prior post that 41% of companies deploying an ERP system (according to an annual survey just completed by the folks at Panorama Consulting) admitted to “changing business processes to accommodate ERP functionality.” The question though is whether that’s the right thing to be changing.  Here’s what Panorama, a [...]

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Survey Results on ERP Implementation: Key Takeaways (Part 1 of 7)

Recently, a firm called Panorama Consulting released the results of its “2012 ERP Report,” a survey it conducted throughout last year.  They surveyed about 250 (mostly large) companies globally, including about 75 inNorth America, in an effort to determine their level of happiness with their business software systems. Along the way, they drew conclusions about [...]

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To Err is Human… To Really Screw Up You Need a Big Computer System

You would think that as consultants and purveyors of ERP systems we would be loath to share the horror stories of failed ERP implementations.  But quite the contrary.  Actually, the lessons learned are, with all due humility, the very lessons we preach to our prospective customers almost every day.  Well, recently the editor of the [...]

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Manufacturing Takes the Lead (Part 5 of 5 in a series)

Required Actions: The Steps to Success.  Whether a company is a “laggard” as defined in the Aberdeen Group’s report entitled ERP in Manufacturing 2010: Measuring Business Benefit and the Time to Value, or an “industry average” firm looking to move up to Best in Class, certain actions need to be performed in order to spur [...]

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