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Software implementation going wrong

In 2018, Lidl, the German giant retailer, stopped the implementation of its ERP with SAP after spending 500 million euros in the process. We don’t know why this happened, but usually, there are issues on both sides. (Details: here).

If 2 giant companies, coming from the same country and having enormous budgets failed in implementation of software, what would be the expectations of a small or medium business regarding a usual software implementation process?

We try to answer this question by addressing the usual challenges that the software companies and their customers are facing in the implementation process, no matter how small that is.

• the customer has to allocate resources of people, time and money. Even we talk about a single person, that person will be the Project Manager


• the Project Manager has to have sufficient time, authority, support and the ability to make decisions


• there should be enough time available for the required tasks such as: testing the system, data entry, consolidate and organize data


• the requirements have to be very clear and the customer has to decide internally what to ask. Only when everybody agreed on the specifications needed, only then the implementation should start


• by using a supplier that has experience on the business side, the customer will receive assistance and the best practices from other implementations


• an experienced supplier will also advise about customer process changes, if they will be required


• everybody who will be involved in the usage of the software has to support the implementation process


• if exists, the IT department has to know about the software and hardware requirements. If the software is in the Cloud and no integrations are needed, there is basically no need for IT involvement


• the GO-Live moment has to be set when all the users are ready to adopt the new solution


• the training and the support (during and after implementation) of the supplier should be a mandatory request from customers

Even you choose to purchase a SaaS software over the Internet and pay it with your Visa card, you still have to follow up the same steps, even if they are a lot smaller.

Implementing software can be an easy task if it is well prepared and there is involvement from both parties.