Why Most SAP Customers Still Haven’t Moved to S/4HANA
And why that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Despite SAP’s aggressive push to migrate its customer base to S/4HANA, the reality on the ground tells a very different story. A recent study from SAP Insider reveals a staggering truth: 35,000 SAP customers haven’t even started their S/4HANA transformations, and another 30,000 haven’t completed the move. […]
ERP Is Dead… Sort Of: Why the Future of Enterprise Tech Is Bigger Than ERP
By Third Stage Consulting “ERP is dead.”It’s a bold statement—and maybe a little dramatic—but the truth is this: ERP software as we’ve known it is no longer the uncontested king of enterprise technology. Organizations are waking up to a new reality. They don’t always need to rip and replace a legacy system with a massive, […]
Understanding Supply Chain Management: Key Terms and Concepts for Modern Organizations
By Third Stage Consulting Effective supply chain management (SCM) is no longer optional—it’s essential. From navigating raw material shortages to meeting high consumer expectations for fast delivery, organizations are under constant pressure to optimize their supply chains. Whether you’re a manufacturer, distributor, or retailer, understanding core supply chain concepts can help you reduce costs, improve […]
Is SAP the Next BlackBerry? The Future of ERP and the End of the Monolith
The question isn’t if the ERP landscape is shifting — it’s how fast and who survives. SAP, once the gold standard of enterprise software, is now facing increasing pressure from disruptive startups, interoperability platforms, and shifting customer expectations. While it won’t disappear overnight, the writing may already be on the wall — and its downfall […]
What SAP Doesn’t Want You to Know About ECC, S/4HANA, and Your Real Options
The ERP world is at a boiling point — especially for SAP customers. If you’ve invested heavily in ECC and SAP is already pressuring you to jump to S/4HANA, you’re not alone. But here’s the truth SAP doesn’t want you to know: you don’t have to follow their timeline — or their narrative. You have […]
Is AI in ERP Real — or Just Hype?
In 2025, AI is everywhere—headlines, vendor demos, boardroom discussions. And now, ERP software vendors are jumping into the hype, promising that artificial intelligence will completely transform how businesses run their operations. But is it actually happening? Or are we still years away from truly integrated AI capabilities in ERP? The truth is somewhere in between. […]
Unlocking the Third Stage Consulting Digital Transformation Playbook: 10 Steps to Success
Since founding Third Stage Consulting several years ago, we’ve refined and elevated our methodology through experience with more than 400 clients around the world — and counting over 1,000 implementations across our team’s collective background. Today, we’re lifting the curtain on the 10-step playbook that has become the backbone of our client engagements and digital […]
Why Technology Project Failures Land in Court — And What Expert Witnesses Really See
It’s an unfortunate but unavoidable truth: some digital transformation and ERP projects go so far off the rails that they land in the courtroom. At that point, clients often hire consulting firms like ours to act as independent, unbiased expert witnesses, helping courts and legal teams understand exactly what went wrong, why it happened, and […]
Are SAP Projects Really More Prone to Failure? A Closer Look at ERP Implementation Risk
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) failures have long been a source of frustration, finger-pointing, and costly lessons across industries. Over time, one software name seems to appear more frequently than others in discussions of failed ERP implementations: SAP. From troubled supply chain rollouts to customer-facing disruptions, there is no shortage of stories highlighting SAP project struggles. […]
Why Software Vendors Get Your Digital Transformation Timeline Wrong
When embarking on a digital transformation, it’s easy to get swept up in the enthusiasm vendors bring to the table. They offer glossy demos, confident digital transformation timelines, and an implementation roadmap that seems simple and straightforward. But here’s the truth: those timelines are usually wrong.Not because the software doesn’t work—but because your organization isn’t […]
Root Causes of Digital Transformation Failure: It’s Not Just the Tech
When organizations struggle during digital transformations, they often point fingers at the most visible culprits: a buggy system, an unhelpful vendor, or rising costs. But the reality is more complex. These common complaints are often symptoms, not root causes. To understand why digital transformations truly fail—and how to fix them—we have to dig deeper. Why […]
What’s the ROI of a Dancing Panda? Why Every Digital Transformation Needs a Clear Strategy
Spoiler alert: It’s not about the panda. It’s about purpose. We live in an era where nearly anything is possible with technology. AI. Automation. Real-time data lakes. Predictive analytics. Virtual assistants. You name it—someone’s already building it. So the question is no longer what you can do in a digital transformation. It’s what you should […]