10 Facts to Know About ERP Implementation

The risk of failure is overestimated.

Our long experience – backed up by the results of a client survey we commissioned – shows that more than two-thirds of ERP implementations are considered successful (defined as achieving all goals), roughly one-third are considered partially successful, a tiny, single-digit percentage are described as unsuccessful, and less than 1 in 300 are deemed complete failures.

UPSHOT: It's extremely unlikely that your implementation will fail. And it is very likely that it will achieve all or many of your goals. Which is good news for companies concerned about risk. But we also see that many organizations set the bar for "success" too low – and leave additional performance improvement opportunities and value on the table.

The most important goal is increased efficiency.

Most clients say their No. 1 goal for their ERP implementation is cost savings. Which we know is the result of achieving greater efficiency. Beyond that, the goals vary from organization to organization. But, in general, businesses focus on accelerating and optimizing core business processes and improving business performance. We've done more than 500 projects, and our expert consultants say that the first focus should be on business process efficiency.