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Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are the soap operas of the IT industry. They evoke the entire spectrum of human emotion, from longing and love to greed and betrayal. Like soap opera plot lines, ERP issues are constantly being recycled. These complex business systems and the people that sell, deploy and support them are major characters in the IT leadership drama.
The story here is not about ERP vendors, which would likely be told as a tragicomedy or courtroom drama. Our perspective and analysis comes from the decision maker. For this month's CIO Habitat, we interviewed 136 executives (57% midmarket firms; 43% large enterprises) on a range of ERP issues. We wanted to know what drove organizations to choose an ERP system in the first place. How were decisions about project scope and vendor partners made? What was the experience like during implementation and aftermath?
Every senior IT manager seems to have an ERP war story. Veterans display their membership in this club like a red badge of courage, recounting tales of heroics and struggles. "I have found that system integrators do not have the client's interest in mind unless there is an unlimited budget," says the CIO of a utility company. "They do a great job in the initial phases, but once it gets to crunch time, they are more concerned about contract terms, changes in scope and [profit] margins."
Implementing an ERP system "took 10 years off my life," swears the IT chief at a software company. "At this company alone, I have been part of an ERP rollout four times," adds the weary CIO at one multinational manufacturer. Still, a CIO at a retailer believes that "ERP is a painful journey, but a destination worth reaching."
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