Implementation of enterprise resource planning model based solutions in medium-sized South African companies

Abstract

The medium-to-large manufacturing organisation in Sub Saharan???Africa has been particularly slow in adopting information technology as a competitive business tool. Most medium sized companies have been successful with the bare minimal information infrastructure necessary to support its day to day operations. There is a need today for a rea l time information system to support fast and effective decision making. This has become a determining factor in ensuring continued success in a rapidly changing and competitive business environment. The cost and choice of software, implementation partners and the necessary people skills to sustain such a system are areas of great concern, as the "horror stories" of costly, lengthy and often painful implementations permeate the business community. This research is designed to identify reasons of model based implementation failures/successes in medium sized companies, and to formulate a generic implementation model that will provide a reasonable measure of confidence to companies undertaking enterprise resource planning system implementations. A questionnaire was designed to establish the approach followed in model based implementations undertaken locally. The questionnaires were e-mailed to companies that have undertaken BaaN implementations during the period January 1999 to April 2000. A high return rate of 75% was achieved. The responses generally indicated that implementations failed due to poor alignment of information technology with the strategic objectives of the organisation. Without this important aspect present at the highest level of the organisation, commitment to the project by management and employees was not always forthcoming. The role of model based solutions was however to facilitate a faster implementation period, and this was found to be particularly useful in companies where business processes were not formalised. While the software had the flexibility required, most companies did not have skilled personnel to derive maximum benefit from the system. Recommendations are to integrate information technology at the executive level of the business. This will ensure that the appropriate - I - performance measures are in place to facilitate its execution. A holistic implementation approach is to be adopted, which will ensure the integration of all business processes. The training and education of employees, identified as a major shortcoming, is essential in enabling the company to use the system as a competitive business tool. The study concludes that the research provides a useful baseline against which future implementations of model based enterprise resource planning systems can be measured in medium-sized South African companies, and this will provide a competitive advantage.