Avoiding termites, er, consultants

April 26, 2007, 3:49 PM — Listen to the column Avoiding termites, er, consultants, or visit our Podcast Center to hear more by James Gaskin.

Back in February in a blog entitled href="http://www.itworld.com/Net/nlsnetworking070206/index.html">Product Information Management I made a reference to ERP consultants as termites: they sneak in, suddenly there are tons of them, and they're darn near impossible to force out. Many told me the little joke was painfully true. But the Approva company replied they are not only not termites, they have a "try before you buy" process. I had to check this out.

Robert Schmollinger, Internal Audit and Financial Compliance Director for MedImmune spoke with me about their Approva software purchase. MedImmune has about 2,500 employees working to improve our success rates against infectious and inflammatory diseases and cancer. Over 600 SAP users (insert your own SAP termite story for that implementation) work in the six worldwide locations. About 20 people use Authorizations Insights from Approva to monitor who's doing what inside SAP more easily than SAP's own tools allow.



"We used the 'try before you buy' method with the Approva implementation in 2004, found value in the product, and moved on to become a paying customer," said Schmollinger. He came after the SAP installation but managed the Approva software acquisition for use as part of their SOX compliance routine.



To be fair to the consultants, software engagements usually turn into a termite infestation because the company doesn't know what it wants, and constantly changes the goals for the termites, er, consultants. If companies want to discover themselves with the help of software consultants, the termites will stay and play until the money runs out. But personal psychiatrists for the Chairman, CEO, and each board member would be far cheaper.



Approva quotes the Boston Consulting Group's claim that more than half of all ERP implementations fail. Up to 90 percent never achieve the ROI goals used to justify the project. Oops.



Schmollinger gives some great advice for avoiding termite infestations. "Keep the scope narrow. We knew what to ask for, and we got it." Wouldn't you love your vice presidents to follow that plan?



Too often, companies pay and pay and pay to get their ERP or other software working acceptably. But Approva promises that you pay after the software works. I certainly hope this process becomes the norm, so we can stop battling consultant infestations.