Misalignment: The Secret Killer of Digital Transformation Initiatives
The real cause of digital transformation and ERP failures isn’t what you might think. When we hear about SAP failures at Lidl, the ERP challenges at Haribo, and other digital transformation failures, it’s easy to blame the obvious problems: We over-customized the software Our system integrator charged us too much and took longer than planned […]
Planning a Digital Transformation: Perspectives from the User Community
We have recently talked to a number of organizations who are either upgrading or replacing their systems and have a number of staff members who were around for the initial implementation. In asking for their perspectives on change and system adoption, we have heard some common themes from users on how they view technology implementation. […]
What To Do Before Beginning Your SAP S/4HANA Implementation
Once you have selected your SAP system integrator, it’s easy to get steamrolled into letting the army of consultants show up on site, start the meter running, and just start doing stuff. Despite pressure you may feel from Deloitte, Accenture, Capgemini, or most other integrators, this is a terrible idea that goes against your best […]
The Trojan Horse Approach to Organizational Change Management
I recently wrote about how organizational change management is dead. The premise of this article is that traditional change efforts, frameworks, and approaches fail time and time again, so something needs to change if we are going to be more effective at managing change. These failed change efforts are creating a vicious circle of continuous […]
Oracle Cloud ERP: The Sleeping Giant?
It’s been quite some time since we have highlighted Oracle. Even my colleague Eric Kimberling’s predictions for Top ERP Systems for 2019, while including NetSuite, didn’t include Oracle Cloud. The reasons for this included lack of a clear product roadmap, reduced market traction and lack of cloud maturity. Innovation within Oracle Cloud While these are […]
First Impressions Count, Especially with Digital Transformation
First impressions have always counted, be it on a date, during an interview or a sales meeting. First impressions are also critical to employees when discussing an upcoming digital transformation, ERP, web-enablement initiative, systems consolidation or any form of technology initiative. In most cases, employees are familiar with the concept of change and they have […]
Your Business Blueprint Should Dictate Your SAP S/4HANA Implementation – Not the Other Way Around
At the moment, our team is helping about half a dozen larger organizations manage their SAP S/4HANA implementations. The biggest lesson so far? Your business needs should dictate how S/4HANA gets deployed – not the other way around. Myths and propaganda from SAP S/4HANA system integrators If you talk to a sales rep from SAP […]
Creating the Perfect RFP for an ERP Software Evaluation
Years ago, selection and advisory firms would push the importance of documenting an ERP Request for Proposal (RFP) when completing a software selection. In recent years, however, many organizations have moved away from formalizing this process. The reasons for this are many, specifically that software vendors have nearly perfected the art of manipulating these documents. […]
Risks of Microsoft Dynamics 365 System Integrators
Choosing a technical system integrator is an important decision for any digital transformation. But the risks of Microsoft Dynamics 365 system integrators are even greater than for other ERP solutions. While SAP, Oracle, and other ERP vendors have tightly controlled their ecosystems, Microsoft Dynamics has traditionally taken a hands-off approach to their system integrators. This […]
How to Avoid Losing Control of Your SAP S/4HANA Transformation
Over the last 20 years, I have seen plenty of organizations lose control of their SAP implementations. These projects tend to be bigger and more complex than many organizations can handle, which is why there are so many SAP failures like those at Lidl, National Grid, Haribo, and other publicized challenges in recent years. Common […]
Determining Your ERP Total Cost of Ownership
One of the first questions we are asked when discussing an ERP initiative with a new client is “how much is this whole thing going to cost us.” The easy and accurate answer is: “we have no idea at this time.” Unfortunately, executive committees and board members generally won’t accept this answer and need to […]
Money Talks: How Economic Incentives Bias Digital Transformations
As AC/DC once said: “come on, come on, listen to the money talk.” Nowhere is this truer than in the digital transformation space. Money drives so much of what does or doesn’t happen in our industry. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always align with the long-term interests of those most impacted by technology: the companies using it. […]