ERP System Workarounds

A recent study found that a staggering 75-percent of respondents aged 35 and under reported that when an enterprise solution is too difficult to use, they’ll turn to desktop spreadsheet software (i.e., Microsoft Excel) to get their work done. And the issue is not limited to just the younger generation; more than half (58-percent) of respondents aged 36 to 45 reported the same action. These findings are endemic of much larger issues, mainly that ERP systems are not functional and/or not aligned with business processes and that employees have not been adequately trained in how to use their organization’s ERP system. And the results of these workarounds can be chilling: organizations whose employees have gone “rogue” are not only failing to realize adequate returns on their costly ERP investment, but can even have their operations put at risk if the ERP system is not being used and populated the way management assumes it is. Perhaps even more disturbing? The study also found tha...