Keith Townsend of The CTO Advisor comments:
There’re so many stories of failed ERP projects that some question if ERP ever delivered value to the business. The projects proved much more complicated than originally envisioned by vendors and project sponsors. Most cases the challenge had nothing to do with technology but business processes. IT infrastructure automation has similar pitfalls.
The challenges associated with ERP originate when trying to marry existing business processes with a rigid computer system. Business processes are very organic systems that grow and evolve as a company’s business and culture matures. Technology such as ERP is designed to meet 80% of most business needs. Customers need to decide to build their own system, customize and off the shelf system or change their business process. Each path has its associated risk. Smart companies hire consultants to help make the decision. Other companies underestimate the associated risks and end up spending precious resources on a failed strategy.
Keith nails it here. If you automate garbage, the garbage just gets done faster. Look at your processes to make sure you’re doing them right before you hand them off to an automation system.
Read more at: Don’t waste money on automation before looking at processes
