ERP Implementation – Big Bang or Phased?
By Sam Graham If anything positive can be taken from recent ERP disasters (Lidl, National Grid, Waste Management, etc), it is that these failures happened before those systems went live. Compare that with, for example, the Hershey debacle (now frequently used as a case study in how not to implement ERP). It would appear that […]
Top 10 ERP and Digital Transformation Predictions for 2019
This has been an amazing year so far. Technology has continued to evolve while many organizations begin their digital transformation journeys. Some have been successful so far, while others have struggled. On a personal level, our company began working with 15 new clients in the last 6 months since spinning off from our last company. […]
Can you Trust your ERP Consultants?
While every industry has some bad apples, the ERP consulting space is one that seems to have a few extra worms. We have also recently heard several horror stories from companies regarding their past experience with ERP consultants. The common phrase “you get what you pay for” comes to mind here. However, there are many […]
Why Cloud ERP Has Finally Reached the Tipping Point
I’m a skeptic of buzzwords, broad over-generalizations, and biased opinions. But it’s time for me to finally admit it: cloud ERP has finally reached the tipping point of adoption. Over the last several years, I have blogged about how cloud systems are overrated. I wrote about how on-premise still had its place for the foreseeable […]
Why Digital Transformation and ERP Failures are on the Rise
The last few months have brought news of some high-profile digital transformation ERP failures. The high-profile SAP failures at Lidl and National Grid are just two examples of recent failures. Though these are just two examples out of thousands of transformations that happen each year, I am convinced that where there is smoke there is […]
How to Estimate Implementation Time and Cost for SAP S/4HANA, Oracle Cloud ERP, or Microsoft Dynamics 365
Creating an ERP implementation plan and budget is a difficult undertaking. Not many people know how to estimate the implementation time and cost for an SAP S/4HANA, Oracle Cloud ERP, or Microsoft Dynamics 365 project. The Challenge of Estimating Implementation Time and Cost Bias and lack of independence are two the biggest reasons why companies […]
My Life as an SAP Expert Witness
]I’ve been involved with SAP implementations for over 20 years now. In that time, I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly sides of these large transformation projects. My experience as an SAP expert witness has taught me a lot. In my experience as an SAP expert witness and SAP implementation consultant, SAP S/4HANA, […]
Strategies to Implement Oracle Cloud ERP Better, Faster, and Cheaper
CIOs looking for ways to implement Oracle Cloud ERP better, faster, and cheaper often don’t know where to start. They may have heard the stories of budgetary overruns and rocky go-live events, but they often lack clarity on how to avoid those same mistakes. Most organizations implementing this ERP solution are on the high-complexity side […]
ERP Software and the Flooded Basement
When budgeting for their ERP transformations, most companies tend to focus on immediately trying to reduce external costs. They then compare what could be handled in-house, assuming that anything run internally will lower costs. This is simply a bad assumption. In fact, what we have commonly found is that the more companies try to lower […]
Lowering ERP Total Cost of Ownership through Effective Change Management
The acceptance of change management has gotten significantly better over the past several years, and many organizations are even asking for it. However, when budgets become tight it is still one of the first things to go. It is time to change this course of action and give change management the spotlight it deserves. Consider […]
Runnin’ with the Devil: Uncovering the Truth About ERP Consultants
I was at a crossroads when I left the company I founded in 2005 to start Third Stage Consulting. I had a vision for what I wanted that company to be and to stand for, but those good intentions became watered down by a new ownership structure with a different set of values. It was […]