Business Intelligence: What Is Holding Back ERP Implementations
For years now, companies and ERP consultants have struggled with how to avoid ERP failure. Many struggle to reach the third stage of ERP, which is when real transformations happen, business benefits are realized, and the business is better off than before new technology was deployed. I recently wrote about how part of the problem […]
The Intangible Side of an ERP Business Case
A strong ERP business case usually starts with hard numbers: implementation cost, software spend, productivity gains, process efficiencies, and expected ROI. Those numbers matter, but they rarely tell the whole story. Some of the most important reasons to invest in ERP are harder to quantify, including strategic flexibility, cultural alignment, market perception, scalability, and employee […]
Five Things That are Obsolete in the ERP Software Industry
The other day, we posted our top ERP predictions for 2019. While this provides a good look into where the industry is headed, it is also important to understand the things that are obsolete in the ERP software industry. While there are a large number to choose from, here are a handful to be particularly […]
Top 10 ERP and Digital Transformation Predictions for 2019
This has been an amazing year so far. Technology has continued to evolve while many organizations begin their digital transformation journeys. Some have been successful so far, while others have struggled. On a personal level, our company began working with 15 new clients in the last 6 months since spinning off from our last company. […]
When Should Business Process Management Occur During Digital Transformation?
Digital transformations have the ability to revolutionize the way we do business. However, new technology is worthless without a corresponding improvement to your business processes. It raises the question: when should business process management occur during digital transformation? This is and always has been a controversial topic with much debate. Software vendors and ERP systems […]
Digital Transformation vs. ERP Implementation: Which is Right for You?
Digital transformation is one of the industry’s biggest buzzwords at the moment. ERP implementation, on the other hand, is a term that is becoming a bit dated and has lost a bit of its luster with recent failures such as Lidl and National Grid. But what does “digital transformation” mean? And how is it different […]
What Private Equity Firms Want from Digital Transformation
Over the years, we have worked with quite a few clients backed by private equity companies. These big private equity firms want unique things from their digital transformation. Even for those of us outside that industry could learn quite a bit from their endeavors. As a broad generalization, private equity firms are hyper-focused on creating […]
Comparison of Microsoft Dynamics 365 vs. NetSuite
Our recently release ranking of top ERP systems for 2019 triggered some interesting discussion and comparisons of leading enterprise software. Microsoft Dynamics 365 and NetSuite were both in our top 5 (#1 and #3, respectively), which leads to an interesting comparison of these two systems. Microsoft Dynamics 365 and NetSuite are often on ERP shortlists […]
Should We Adopt Our Parent Company’s Tier I ERP System?
Over the last few weeks, we have helped two companies navigate a common challenge: whether or not to adopt their parent company’s tier I ERP system. Tier I ERP systems traditionally refer to products such as SAP S/4HANA and Oracle Cloud ERP. Some might say that Microsoft Dynamics 365 and/or Infor CloudSuite should be considered […]
Top ERP Systems for 2019
Disclaimer: Third Stage Consulting is an independent ERP consulting firm. Third Stage has no financial ties to ERP vendors, either directly or through parent companies or affiliates. Accordingly, the below analysis is completely technology-agnostic and 100% free of vendor bias. As we enter the home stretch of the year, many of our clients are knee-deep […]
Why Every CIO and ERP Project Team Should Attend the Digital Stratosphere Conference
It seems that it is impossible to learn everything there is to know about digital transformation success. Although I have been an ERP consultant for more than 30 years and recently published lessons from over 1,000 ERP implementations that I’ve been involved with, I am still constantly learning. Other cases in point: recent SAP failures […]
Independent Comparison of SAP S/4HANA vs. Microsoft Dynamics 365
In years past, most of our larger clients would hone in on SAP vs. Oracle as their primary focus during their ERP selection processes. In more recent years, we saw an uptick in organizations considering SAP S/4HANA vs. Oracle Cloud ERP vs. Microsoft Dynamics 365 as more evaluated the three industry leaders. Even more lately, […]