Contract bites: Contracting for ERP Implementation Success
Contracting for ERP Implementation Success 20 November 2014 Mayer Brown Newsletter Stories of ERP implementation disasters are numerous and stunning in scale and frequency. These failures are so common that reading the literature on the subject leads to the conclusion that successes are in the small minority. In fact, one recent study estimated that only 6.4% of ERP projects are completed on time and within budget. 1 The reported costs of abandoned projects can be enormous—$125 million in the case of Avon. But the costs of an improperly implemented system are equally high. Hershey and Nike each reported $100 million in lost sales and significant drops in stock price due to problems in their new ERP systems. 2 While many of the risks in an ERP implementation project are beyond the control of the lawyers supporting the project, understanding why these projects often fail and what success looks like will help you guide your business clients to a contract structure th