ERP projects - what companies think

The annual Panorama survey on ERP projects shows that cost and time schedules are still exceeded in most cases. The organisation of the projects proves to be particularly problematic. With the ERP software most of them are nevertheless satisfied. However, the projects are not described as "successful".

192 companies participated in the "2014 ERP Report" of the analyst firm Panorama. Consulting Solutions took part. Large corporations and smaller companies from all industries and regions gave assessments of ERP projects in an online questionnaire. Here is a summary of the most important results and their analysis.

Trend towards small ERP projects with (nevertheless) long runtimes

The durations of the projects are, in a sense, at a standstill. Also in the past years, swelling costs regarding exceeded deadlines were complained about in the surveys. The number of overdue projects has even grown (54 percent of projects have exceeded the Costs exceeded, 72 percent the time).

In contrast, the level of Project budgets decreased. The survey already identified a tendency towards smaller projects last year. Probably in order to be able to handle complex processes better in the project. Nevertheless, an average of 16.3 months is spent on a project. ERP project needed. The running time decreases only slightly despite the small projects.
The responsibility for this lies with the organization of the projects. The problems come from within the companies themselves. Few of the respondents plan a budget to support the mostly necessary interventions in the project processes. Also for Business process management only less than half spend money. This is also supported by the survey result that only eight per cent of the companies note full user acceptance.

ERP popular ? but project success?

Despite the poor ratings for project durations, a full 70 per cent are satisfied with their software. However, only 63 per cent consider the ERP project to be successful.
According to the Panorama study, this is due to the lack of definitions of success. If the goals and expectations are not compared with what has been achieved at the end (e.g. in the context of a project review), it often remains unclear whether these goals have been achieved. Especially if users are included in the definition of goals, they can later give a correct assessment of the project's success.
The respondents are happy to seek external help. 39 per cent already during the product selection, 29 per cent for the Project planning and implementation. Nevertheless, the organisational challenges of a project remain just that: challenges. Nevertheless, the Panorama study advises external support. It is difficult to find the optimal consulting firm.

cloud-ERP: Nobody wants the clouds

Mobility doesn't really work for ERP. The software solution from the cloud remains a rarely chosen alternative. 85 per cent of the respondents have installed the system on-premise in their own data centre. Eleven per cent use the option of an external provider. Only four per cent choose the cloud or ?software-as-a-service? (SaaS) option. In the previous year's survey, the figure was 18 percent. Lack of information and fear of security are often cited as reasons for reticence in the area of cloud. Yet cloud ERP providers are secure and reliable ? according to the Panorama study. The main argument of the ERP cloud providers ? the low operating costs ? also often promise more than they can deliver. According to the survey, 54 percent of respondents have achieved savings of between zero and 40 percent. That is good, but without looking at the long-term costs. Those who want to save through the cloud option should therefore first look at the costs over a longer term ? that is the advice of the study.

You can find more information and articles on ERP projects in our series "Successfully through the ERP project".