When the vendor manages the ERP project — and you lose your grip
The system integrator has a plan.
The provider has an agenda.
The question is: As a customer project manager, do you really have the control?
Too many ERP projects are in practice being vendor-driven. Pace, priorities and solutions are determined from the outside — often based on the vendor's internal goals, rather than the company's strategic needs. The result is often systems that don't fit and organizations that aren't ready.
The crucial competence of the customer project manager is therefore to establish a governance that keeps the balance between business, supplier and system integrator. It requires management on three fronts: clear decision paths, clear role distributions, and sufficient ERP implementation insights to challenge vendor plans — rather than blindly follow them.
I always recommend that the customer appoint the project manager before the contract with the implementation partner is signed. The project manager, together with the supplier, must prepare all delivery-related annexes — in particular the implementation method, roles and responsibilities. It allows the project manager to chalk up his own trajectory. There is no facit list; all setups have pros and cons, and these should be known before the recommendation is given.
Of course, I have also stood with a completed signed contract on the table. In that situation, two things are crucial:
1. Read and understand the delivery agreement in depth. Document inappropriations and make sure the steering committee understands the consequences.
2. Use the very first steering committee meeting strategically. Here the mood is good. Discuss the elements of the contract that can impede joint success. If there is agreement, record it and initiate a change request.
This is not a “silver bullet”, but it provides a governance foundation from which the project manager can act.
After more than three decades of ERP implementations, one message is clear:
ERP projects succeed when the customer takes competent ownership.
Not just on paper — but in practice, in priorities, in governance and in daily dialogue.
You can buy an ERP system.
But you can't buy a self-driving, successful ERP project.
This column is the third of three on project management in ERP projects. If you want to strengthen your handling of the critical phases of an ERP implementation and gain access to a proven toolkit based on experience from hundreds of projects, you can enroll in HNCO's 2-day course in ERP project management for experienced project managers.
Read more and register for the course here.
