Enterprise resource planning [ERP] is a key to the success of a business. Nobody would like to get removed from his or her ERP projects. For any Chief Financial Officer [CFO], definitely there is no other choice but to get his ERP approved at any cost.
Last year a new Chief Information Officer [CIO] was needed by a midmarket medical-supply company. The company had a CIO who was hired two years back however; the company did not like her work and wanted to replace her.
The incumbent CIO of this company had done a mistake. She had launched an ERP that had single-instance global enterprise resource planning. This new plan was to go live in September 2011.
However, the new CIO discovered the entire ERP of previous CIO as a mere cruel joke. There were no serious problems however except system integrator’s denial to work, development organizations inability to configure the total work needed and unpreparedness from business team side. What actually caused the CIO’s eviction was that she was held responsible for making an ERP without taking into consideration of the budget. She was told by the CFO and the CFO was held responsible for all problems.
So, to resolve the issue, first step the CFO took was fire the previous CIO and hire a new one. This was definitely not a measure to prevent further disasters rather to get rid of blames the CIO had on his own shoulders.
In fact if you carve out an ERP without considering company’s situation, it cannot be a success. ERPs have a very deep impact on the running of a business and it needs a good management and working team too. If it fails, entire business will suffer.
ERPs need to be reliable as well as flexible. If your ERP works successfully, your customers will be happy and your business will grow.
For a successful ERP, it is a must to select a good leader. ERP program leaders are needed to manage teams who actually put the executive committees to work. However, middle lever managers are usually incapable of carrying out such work and this can also make ERP suffer.
Never consider an ERP as an IT project because it is a business project and therefore needs to be handled more skillfully. ERP needs quality leadership for business and good management with full commitment. It can not be handled single hand by CIO. In the absence of a true executive partner or team your CIO is likely to risk your ERP and the company may land in trouble.
Never underestimate the duration for completing an ERP. It is better to assess an ERP’s implementation before actually implementing it. This will also give a better idea of the budget involved.
A well known CIO stated ERP projects are won or lost at the beginning. So judge it before you put your hands on it. Evaluate your product, partners, executives, managers and then put your expectations accordingly. A realistic approach with targeted work will make a successful ERP for sure.
