We’ll be honest: that headline stat about 362% of ERP projects going over budget? We made it up to get you here. But if you’ve ever lived through one, you probably thought it sounded about right.
And that’s the problem. ERP overruns are so common that exaggerated figures feel believable. In our experience advising and rescuing ERP projects, the truth is clear: they don’t go off the rails by accident, they fail for the same, predictable reasons.
Here are the four biggest ones we see time and again.
1. Rushed and unrealistic planning
More often than not organisations attempt to compress planning into a matter of weeks. The resulting project plan is full of assumptions and optimistic deadlines, with little detail behind them.
The truth is that ERP planning is a discipline in its own right. When rushed it creates a cascade of problems that play out during implementation: underestimated complexity and inadequate resource allocation.
Our advice: Take planning seriously. Invest the time upfront and involve an experienced ERP project manager from the outset. Every day spent planning properly saves weeks and significant costs later.
2. Underestimating the internal commitment required
ERP transformation is not something people can do “on the side” while maintaining their usual day jobs. Yet, this is exactly the expectation many businesses set.
Without dedicated internal resources projects will stall. Knowledge gaps emerge, and the partner ends up making decisions that should sit with the business. The result? Misalignment, delays and escalating costs.
Our advice: Treat ERP as a full-time commitment, either backfill your people or free them up entirely. There is unfortunately no halfway house that works.
3. Cutting corners on an inherently expensive undertaking
ERP systems are expensive because they’re complex and business-critical and attempts to drive down cost at every stage, whether by reducing scope, minimising testing, or resisting contingency planning almost always backfire.
Our advice: Accept that ERP is a significant investment. Build in a 20–30% contingency buffer to your budget. Surprises will happen and having the flexibility to absorb them avoids the frantic (and costly) scramble for extra funds mid-project.
4. Becoming overly dependent on your partner
This is perhaps the most damaging mistake. When all knowledge, code and documentation sits with the partner the client loses visibility and control. Every change, however minor becomes a negotiation and often a very expensive one.
Our advice: Ensure knowledge transfer from the start. Maintain documentation internally and build confidence within your team so you can challenge and contribute to decisions. ERP should empower your business, not create long-term dependency. Also – take our partner dependency assessment, it takes you five minutes and will give you peace of mind. Find it here
Final thoughts
ERP projects fail for predictable reasons. The good news? They are also avoidable with the right planning and governance.
If you’re unsure whether your business has fallen into the trap of over-reliance on your partner, we recommend assessing your position now, we have created a quick assessment check available here if you need confirmation. The earlier you identify these risks, the easier they are to fix.
Whilst our 362% figure was made up, the costs of a poorly run ERP project are very real.
If you want to know whether your partner is delivering, or they’re high risk, we have a quick partner dependency assessment. It takes five minutes and will give you peace of mind: Find it here