R3Now.com – ERP, SAP, and IT Solutions for IT Decision Makers

ERP III – Is the Integration of Collaboration the Future of Enterprise Applications

Back in the late 1990's, while at Grant Thornton, and then later when the management consulting organization was sold to Hitachi I worked on a comprehensive knowledge management model.  This knowledge management model was used to advance the concept of a learning organization because that was a clear business fit for consulting companies.  In consulting  a consultant’s capabilities are directly tied to their knowledge, and that knowledge is a consultant’s, and a consulting company’s c...

ERP Consultants: Is the Promise of Knowledge Transfer just part of the Sales Pitch?

Most ERP projects are filled with promises of software knowledge transfer from the consultants to the client. Yet once a project is over, in many cases, the client is clueless when it comes to making software configuration changes, and may even struggle with performing basic transactions in the system. So what gives? In spite of all the lip service given to knowledge transfer, the problem is there never was a real strategy to make it more than just a dream. Secondly, when push comes to shove ...

SAP CEO Leo Apotheker’s Departure – What is SAP’s Future?

Even though the timing of Apotheker's departure is a little unusual I can not say I am surprised by it.  If I look over the landscape of a CEO's job responsibilities (sales, strategy, etc.) and compare that to Leo's short tenure I don't see any direction coming from the top.  Leo Apotheker came in at a difficult time, but even in the midst of a global economic downturn it is still possible to succeed. Setting aside some of SAP's maintenance fee mis-steps there just hasn't been a compelling fo...