On my flight to meet with internal auditors at their company’s annual IA conference, I sat next to a partner in the advisory practice of Deloitte. He helps the finance organizations of his clients in a number of interesting ways, including process engineering.
One of the types of projects where he is asked to assist is the implementation of ERP systems. The concern of the finance team is that their interests would be insufficiently addressed during the 2-3 year project.
I can understand that some companies may not have the bandwidth or the expertise in-house and go to one of the large accounting firms, like Deloitte, for help. (I asked about other firms, such as Accenture, and he confirmed that they are also a major player.)
What I have more difficulty with is the idea of a 2-3 year ERP implementation.
How can we be confident that we know what the business will look like, and what our needs will be, in 2-3 years?
Organizations of all stripes (private, public, government, NGO, etc., etc.) and in all industries need to be agile.
They need to be able to react promptly and with confidence, if not anticipate, change.
If I was on the board of a company where management told us that they wanted to take such a long time to implement a new system, I would be highly agitated!
ERP systems cost a ton of money, and I…
