Avoiding the Digital Abyss: Create a Digital Strategy and Roadmap

Exciting new technologies are flooding the market on a daily basis, connecting and automating nearly every aspect of our personal and professional lives. Technology makes our lives and jobs faster, easier, more enjoyable and more profitable through IoT, at least that’s what we’re told. But there has to be a limit. Technology IS never ending. […]
Is Your Legacy System a Cybersecurity Ticking Time Bomb?

We encounter many clients who, given the chance, readily talk about the pain points of their IT systems. Many have been living with these symptoms for years and seem eerily accepting of them. Others are unknowingly increasing their cybersecurity threats during digital transformation and ERP initiatives. Since I can turn anything into a car analogy, […]
How to Get Executive Alignment on Your ERP or HCM Implementation

Executive misalignment is one of the biggest challenges with ERP and HCM implementations. Misalignment among executive is one issue. Misalignment between an executive team and its transformation team poses a second layer of difficulty during transformations. But what exactly does “alignment” mean? It’s a nebulous term at best. Actually solving the alignment conundrum can be […]
Digital Transformation Gone Wrong at PG&E

Even if you don’t live in California, you’re probably aware of the devastating fires that sadly took lives and property over the last few years. A big part of this story can be pointed at electrical utility grids and lines and the poor maintenance thereof. When tested by high winds, massive fires and outages have […]
The Top 5 WORST ERP Software Selections of All-Time!

So maybe not of “all-time,” but certainly close. If you are considering one of the top ERP systems in the market, you will want to learn from the mistakes of others. Listed below are 5 actual case-studies of enterprise software selections gone wrong and examples of how NOT to select your ERP, CRM, HCM or […]
How to Define Your ERP and HCM Strategy for the 2020s

Now that a new decade is upon us, it can be a good time to reflect on your digital strategy and pivot to more effective approaches. It is a good time to ask: what are we doing well and what can we doing better in the coming years? This question can lead us to a […]
Private Equity: The Invisible Force in ERP Selection and Implementation

Managing the balance between reward and risk during a digital transformation is a serious responsibility requiring a clear strategic plan, vision and objectives – especially when the transformation has an ERP implementation at its heart. This is achieved by identifying and addressing any misalignments in the highest executive levels of an organization. CEOs, CFOs, and […]
Center of Excellence: The Bridge to Digital Transformation

As digital transformation and ERP consultants, we help and interact with clients daily. This give us tremendous insight into leadership attributes that exist in different forms from a variety of companies around the world. While the term Center of Excellence (CoE) can mean different things, it is typically a sign of a forward-thinking company that […]
Walmart and Accenture: Implications of hiring a “Big-Box” Consultancy to Manage your Digital Transformation

The idea of getting everything you need in one place is tempting. Whether shopping for household goods or for an ERP implementation, one-stop shopping has become fairly commonplace. But is it always the best idea to get your car fixed at the same place you buy your lettuce and toothbrush? There are striking similarities between […]
ERP vs. HCM Implementations: Which is the Better Bet?

I don’t know why I didn’t realize this sooner, but I may have discovered the real key to transformation success in the coming years: human capital management (HCM) software implementations. I have spent a good deal of my career analyzing why ERP implementations fail. But if my digital transformation and ERP predictions for 2020 are […]
How Much Does an ERP Implementation Cost?

More than anything at Third Stage Consulting, we enjoy educating and partnering with clients. While everyone would love an answer to how much an ERP implementation will cost, the reality is, it’s somewhat of a moving target. There are many critical dependencies that impact costs, and how you think about cost is important too. Let’s […]
Lessons from the 2020 ERP and HCM Report

The digital transformation landscape is changing at a breakneck speed. Technology is shifting to the cloud, new functional capabilities are being added at a record pace, and companies implementing these technologies are themselves going through unprecedented changes as well. Against this backdrop, we recently published our 2020 ERP and HCM Report. This annual report captures […]