Discussion: Business Data Integrations

Several  issues or failures to succeed with the implementation of Enterprise  Resource Planning systems (ERP) that resulted in lawsuits between  companies and contracted providers are depicted in Chapter 10 of the  course textbook. Large-scale rollouts of ERP systems are notoriously  difficult to pull off and fraught with cost overruns. Inadequate  training, employee groups’ buy-in or failure to embrace a change to a  utilization of the new technology, poorly designed or incompatible  software with legacy systems, and other factors are often stated to be  the source of difficult transitions to ERP systems.

Question: 

If you were the CIO of a large enterprise and the rollout and  implementation of an ERP system was going badly, where would you begin  to try to determine what was causing the difficulties that are being  encountered in the project? Would you bring in an outside consultant or  rely on in-house talent to track down the causes for the  less-than-optimal outcomes? Why would you choose one asset over the  other?

Remember, one goal in the Discussion assignments is to create an  atmosphere of interaction by posting meaningful responses that advance  and expand the depth of the discussion. Do this by providing additional  support to your peers' initial and response posts, or if appropriate, by  challenging them if you feel that the data that they presented is weak.  Likewise, when a peer challenges the data in your posts, debate the  issue, and providing further support for your points of view on the  topic.