Evaluation of Erp Investment and Business Benefits

Underlying Causes of Failure in ERP Implementations

Abstract

Enterprise ResourcePlanning systems (ERP) projects often lead to disappointing outcomes, evendownright failures, which is not in keeping with the vast   investments they represent. Manyexplanations have been provided, but it seems to be difficult to move beyondthe specificities of each case study of failure. In any case, the publicationof long lists of CSFs for ERP implementations has failed to make any impact onthe difficulties faced by organizations. In this paper, we propose that it isthe mismatch between the very ambitious goals of firms and the means they applythat is the primary cause  of  their failure  to  obtain benefits  from  their ERP  projects.  In particular, seeking strategic benefits andtreating the ERP project as a technical venture is bound to fail. Using fourcase studies of typical  ERP  implementations,  we  seek  to explain  why  firms continue  to  struggle  with integrated systems despite their best intentions and efforts.