Paul Beesley
Executive vice president
Mincom
David Jackman
Managing director
Pronto Software
BEESLEY
What do you see are the typical pitfalls clients can suffer when implementing ERP (enterprise resource planning) solutions?
JACKMAN
Lack of ownership by the customer is the single biggest pitfall. A successful implementation is almost guaranteed when a customer takes responsibilities for the outcomes.
The next pitfall is where customer expectations are not fully discovered and discussed. This can be hard work because many expectations are assumed (by us and the customer) and hence are not clearly articulated. Some IT-led ERP implementations also become totally disconnected from the business needs. The pitfall is not that IT cannot implement the ERP system, rather the business units hand over responsibility for the outcome on the assumption that ERP is about technology and therefore it belongs within the IT team.
JACKMAN
We are seeing a trend where CIOs, possibly due to their better general business training and focus above pure technology issues, are elevating their reporting responsibilities to that of an equal level with the CFO—are you seeing this same trend?
BEESLEY
It depends on the structure and culture of the organisation. We have seen examples from both ends of the spectrum.
In organisations where IT is seen as a strategic differentiator for the business, the CIO and CFO tend to report in at an equal level. As such, the IT function is typically built within the organisation.
In other instances IT is seen as support for the business and merged back into various business units. If an organisation views IT as a commodity, then outsourcing will often be considered.
Mincom supports organisations around the world this way and provides them with managed services that allow them to focus on their core business competencies while providing them with service that is flexible, transparent and risk adverse.
BEESLEY
Getting down to it, what does SOA (service-oriented architecture) mean to Pronto Software and its customers?
JACKMAN
Pronto Software has a no-nonsense view of SOA and the benefits we expect it to deliver. At this early stage of the technology there are many issues to resolve, especially the integrity and security of SOA processes sourced from a third party over the Internet.
We are already using SOA techniques to help deliver customer benefits such as increased business process agility, lower integration costs and reduced operational risk, but most of the claims being made for SOA are hype at this stage and won’t be deliverable outside Fortune 500-sized companies for many years.
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