Implementing ERPII in customer facing organisations, an investigation of critical success factors

There has been a growing trend for customer facing organisations (CFOs) to turn to highly demanding information systems such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) in order to improve their interaction with customers. ERPII has the specific capabilities to deliver extended enterprise opportunities; however there have been widespread accounts of implementation failure leading to costly delays and even on occasion, bankruptcy. There is a lack of research available to business practitioners in terms of how to deliver a successful implementation in these situations and this research aims to address this issue. To achieve this, research has been undertaken using critical success factor (CSF) analysis. A case study was undertaken comprising of a project team placement within an ERPII implementation environment and follow-up interviews with the project team members were undertaken. In addition, a third piece of empirical research was undertaken consisting of interviews with consultant practitioners of supplier organisations. This research shows that CFOs implementing ERPII require specific CSFs to be addressed at different points within the implementation lifecycle. ‘Critical pathway steps’ have been recommended which emphasise the importance of post implementation training.