POURING CONCRETE: STUCK WITH YOUR ERP

The old adage that implementing an ERP system (or a specific ERP system which will remain nameless) is like pouring concrete down your hallways has been a fact of life for many years. Companies spend millions to implement brand name ERP systems and then spend millions more (in terms of labor/consultants and opportunity cost) to make it work for them. Why are companies so willing to spend this money? Why are the makers of "best in breed" ERP systems unable to create user friendly solutions that, if not ready to use out of the box, at the very least come with a basic roadmap for implementation? There is perhaps no other corporate systerm that is readily adopted by senior management, understood as neccessary and yet so feared for its difficulty of implementation and potential for failure.

The answer is both very simple and highly complex. To start with the easy answer: ERPs do a hell of a lot of stuff so of course they are complicated. From purchasing, to HR, to supply chain management, to logistics coordination to integration with CRM systems, the ERP system, when effectively constructed, will serve as the nervous system for an entire corporate body. It is perhaps the most powerful set of tools a management team can have to increase transparency and efficiency within an organization.

At the same time, complexities arise for precisely this reason. An ERP systems ability to manage and drive corporate practices and procedures is only as efficient as its ability to meet the needs an objectives of the client organization. For this reason SAP and others are presented with a challenge:

FLUID vs FORM

If an ERP system is to fluid, i.e. highly customizable, then implementation is slow, custom application development is required in order to take the backbone system and design something that meets the individual requirements of a business. This takes both time and money, both of which increase based on the size, complexity and requirements of the companies being sold the system.

On the other hand, a solid form system that does not allow customization is like pouring concrete....into your company!

-Don Simon