The SAP vs. AB InBev Licensing Dispute: What Every SAP Customer Needs to Know in the Age of AI
There is a legal dispute from nearly a decade ago that most SAP customers either never heard about or dismissed as an isolated event. It is neither. As SAP pushes harder on its Autonomous Enterprise vision, Joule AI agents, and stricter API policies, the implications of that dispute are more relevant today than when it […]
Tennant’s $98 Million ERP Disaster: What Went Wrong and What Every Manufacturer Can Learn
Eden Prairie-based Tennant Company, a global manufacturer of floor cleaning equipment, saw its stock plunge 25% in a single day, the biggest drop in 15 years, after disclosing that a $98 million ERP rollout caused major manufacturing disruptions, order fulfillment breakdowns, and a $4.4 million quarterly net loss. The company estimates the failed rollout cost […]
Why the Digital Transformation Industry Is Broken
After more than 25 years in the digital transformation and ERP consulting space, I have come to one conclusion that becomes harder to ignore every year: this industry is broken. I still love this work. I love helping organizations navigate major transformation initiatives. I love the strategy, the complexity, and the opportunity to help companies […]
Why a Cloud ERP Crisis Is Coming in the 2030s
Cloud ERP has become the default path for enterprise software. Most ERP vendors are cloud-first. Most buyers start with cloud options by default. Many organizations now assume cloud is simply the modern, safer, more scalable choice. There are real benefits to cloud ERP. But there is also a side of this trend that the market […]
Best Practices Don’t Exist (and Why That Myth Hurts Digital Transformations)
“Best practices” is one of the most common selling points in enterprise software. Vendors promise that if you buy their ERP, CRM, or customer service platform, you’ll inherit the “best practices” baked into the system. Your processes will improve. Your teams will become more efficient. Your business will run better than it does today. It’s […]
5 Change Management Traps That Derail Digital Transformations
Most digital transformations don’t fail because of bad technology. They fail because leaders unintentionally create change management problems, often without realizing it until resistance shows up, adoption stalls, and the organization defaults back to old habits. At Third Stage Consulting, we help organizations navigate digital transformations with a tech-agnostic, independent approach. A consistent pattern we […]
How AI Is Turning CRM Into a System of Innovation (Not Just a System of Record)
For years, CRM has carried a reputation it never quite shook: a glorified spreadsheet that sales teams tolerate more than they embrace. Reps get asked to log calls, update stages, and capture details that feel like “admin work,” while the real goal, closing deals, still depends on what happens in conversations, relationships, and timing. That […]
Business vs. IT in Digital Transformation: The Tensions That Make or Break Execution
Every digital transformation forces leaders to thread a needle: business needs and technology needs both matter, yet they often pull in opposite directions. The business wants speed, flexibility, and solutions that fit real-world operations. Information technology teams want scalability, stability, security, and a tech stack they can actually support over time. Neither side is “wrong.” […]
Why CIOs Get Blamed for Digital Transformation Failures (And How to Take the Bullseye Off)
CIOs are commonly blamed when a digital transformation goes sideways. Sometimes that blame is fair. Often, it isn’t. Here’s the reality: most of the factors that determine whether a digital transformation succeeds are not purely technical. They are organizational. They are behavioral. They are political. They are financial. They involve decision-making speed, resource availability, process […]
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations: Pros, Cons, and Who It Fits Best
Microsoft Dynamics 365 is one of the most recognizable names in enterprise technology. For a lot of organizations, it feels like the “safe” choice: familiar interface, tight integration with Microsoft tools, and a huge ecosystem of partners. That said, popularity does not automatically equal fit. This article is an objective look at Microsoft Dynamics 365 […]
Why Vendor “Implementation Methodologies” Keep Failing ERP Projects (And How to Fix the Missing Pieces)
Enterprise software vendors love to talk about methodology. Agile. Waterfall. Accelerators. “Industry best practices.” Fast-track templates. Prebuilt deliverables. A branded playbook with a slick name and a confident promise: follow this plan and your ERP or digital transformation will be successful. Then reality shows up. Projects run long. Costs climb. Users resist. Data gets messy. […]
How to Protect Your Organization From Cloud Lock-In, Audits, and “Surprise” Contract Risk
Enterprise technology leaders love to talk about the future: cloud roadmaps, AI strategies, composable architectures, modern user experiences. Contract language is not exciting, but contract language is where a lot of future pain is quietly stored. When a digital transformation goes sideways, most teams look first at delivery: scope creep, project governance, adoption, data, testing. […]