Bill McDermott, current CEO of ServiceNow and former chief executive of SAP, has said that " The subject is well worth exploring at greater length, and that is precisely what we shall attempt here, without any claim to being exhaustive.

Concept and trends

ERP systems are centralised software platforms that bring together every process within a business, from accounting and manufacturing through to stock management, into a single shared database. This gives company leadership real-time visibility across the entire operation and breaks down the silos between departments, since everyone is working from the same authoritative source of data.

Enterprise Resource Planning systems have undergone significant evolution over the past decade, transforming from straightforward transaction-processing tools into the central nervous system of business intelligence and digital transformation. Today, they are simply unavoidable. In the mid-market and enterprise sectors, implementing such a system is a critical strategic decision, one that will define an organisation's operational efficiency and capacity to adapt to market conditions for the next ten to fifteen years. In the modern business environment, decision-makers, from chief executives to finance directors, must recognise that success depends on aligning organisational architecture, process management, and human capital. Because an ERP system supports efficient operations, faster decision-making, and growth, it is the ideal strategic tool for any business.

The global ERP software market reflects this reality: it reached a value of $77.08 billion in 2025 and is forecast to grow at a compound annual rate of 9.5% to reach $157.07 billion by 2033. This growth is being driven by demand for digital transformation and the increasing maturity of cloud-based solutions.

The secret to a successful ERP implementation: what do the market figures tell us?

For decision-makers, the most critical question is which system best fits the organisation's level of maturity and the specific demands of its industry. Statistics show that more than 90% of large enterprises already use an ERP solution, whilst the figure for mid-sized companies sits at around 75%.

An enterprise resource planning project becomes timely when an organisation reaches what might be called "operational fragmentation", the point at which spreadsheets and isolated software solutions are actively holding back growth.

Competition among market players took an interesting turn in 2024: Oracle edged ahead with revenues of $8.7 billion (a 6.63% market share), narrowly beating SAP, which recorded $8.6 billion in revenue (a 6.57% share). Whilst Oracle is making headway on the strength of its cloud portfolio, Microsoft holds its position through seamless Office integration (4% share), and Sage through its focus on small and medium-sized businesses (2.3% share). When it comes to choosing a platform, Industry 4.0 compatibility tends to be the deciding factor in manufacturing, whilst scalability takes precedence in the services sector.

The challenges of SAP implementation

SAP has been the standard for large enterprises for decades, a fact underscored by the figure that 80% of the retailers listed in the Forbes Global 2000 use the platform. The case for choosing SAP rests on its deep industry integration and its capacity to ensure global compliance.

That said, SAP implementation comes with its own particular challenges. For existing customers, the most pressing issue is the migration from the legacy SAP ECC platform to SAP S/4HANA. With SAP's 2027 support deadline looming, companies are in a race against the clock; by the end of 2025, 64% of businesses were either already running the new system in live operation or in the midst of migration.

S/4HANA is more than an upgrade, it is better described as a technological leap:

• Its in-memory database enables real-time analytics, but demands a complete rethink of data structures.
• Its Clean Core strategy aims to minimise custom development (so-called Z-code). Between 30% and 60% of the bespoke code found in ECC systems is often redundant, and removing it can shorten a project by months.
• Its Fiori user experience replaces the old complex interfaces with mobile-friendly applications, a change that generates significant change management requirements in its own right.

The success factors behind ERP implementation

The high failure rate of ERP implementations, with 55–75% failing to meet their business objectives, suggests that the root cause of problems is rarely technological. It is, far more often, strategic. Success rests on three pillars.

1. Senior leadership commitment

The project cannot be treated as a pure IT initiative. This is a business transformation, and it needs to be led by the CEO or the CFO. Claus Jepsen, Chief Technology Officer of Unit4, puts it plainly: an ERP implementation is 20% technology and 80% change management. He adds: "If you don't change the way you work, you'll just be making the same mistakes in a more expensive way."

The Standish Group's CHAOS Report reinforces the long-established truth that executive sponsorship and user engagement are the two most important success factors. Leadership's job is to secure resources and remove organisational barriers at every stage of the project.

2. Change management and communication

An ERP system dramatically alters daily routines, which naturally provokes resistance among staff. In successful projects, a portion of the budget is allocated to change management and training. Communication should focus not on features and functionality, but on business benefits: how work will become simpler and how transparency will improve.

3. The right methodology

Whilst Agile, with its flexible, iterative approach and continuous feedback loops, has proven effective in software development, a hybrid model has emerged as the most effective approach for large-scale ERP implementations. In this model, planning follows the Waterfall principle, with its strict linear sequence of build-on phases, whilst configuration and testing are carried out in Agile sprints. This approach has shown a 25% higher success rate compared with pure Waterfall.

Why ERP implementations fail: The most common pitfalls

At enterprise scale, the cost of failure runs into tens of millions of dollars. The most frequent underlying causes are as follows:

Underestimated data migration: organisations often assume their data is clean, when in reality poor master data can consume up to 30% of implementation time.

Excessive customisation: this occurs when a company tries to bend the software to fit its old, outdated processes rather than adopting the best-practice workflows the software is designed to deliver. The result is technical debt — a short-term gain whose long-term cost must be paid with interest during maintenance — and it makes future upgrades considerably more difficult.

Insufficient internal capacity: if the best people are not freed from day-to-day operational duties for the duration of the project, quality will suffer.

Cautionary tales: Lidl, Hershey and FoxMeyer

The documented failures in this space are the textbook cases of ERP implementation gone wrong.

Lidl called a halt to its SAP project after seven years and roughly €500 million spent. The root cause was an inflexible insistence on existing processes: the company attempted to bend SAP to its own requirements through bespoke development, which ultimately destabilised the entire system.

Hershey recorded a $112 million failure in 1999, the result of poor timing. The company attempted to go live in 30 months rather than the recommended 48, scheduling the launch just before the peak Halloween trading season. Due to inadequate testing, $100 million worth of orders could not be fulfilled.

There is, however, an even starker example. FoxMeyer Drugs went bankrupt outright as a result of its ERP implementation failures. The system was unable to handle transaction volumes, whilst warehouse staff, fearing for their jobs, actively sabotaged the rollout.

The true cost model: total cost of ownership

When planning a project, decision-makers must account for the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). The reason is straightforward: an ERP system is not a one-off purchase but a long-term infrastructure investment, and the hidden costs can far exceed the initial licence price. These hidden costs include items such as data migration, long-term maintenance, and change management expenditure.

It is worth emphasising that internal resource costs and change management expenses frequently account for 30–50% of the total investment, yet they are routinely omitted from initial calculations. That said, a well-executed implementation typically pays for itself within 12 to 36 months, with an expected ROI of between 150% and 400%.

The added value of interim management

Given the complexity of ERP projects and the limited availability of internal resources, bringing in an external specialist is increasingly common. An interim project manager provides exactly this: not merely filling a vacancy, but delivering objective oversight and political neutrality. They find it easier to push back on unnecessary customisation requests, and are better placed to represent business interests when dealing with the system vendor.

An interim specialist creates value at every stage of the project:

1. Preparation (Phase Zero): helping to articulate business requirements precisely and guiding software selection, avoiding what is known as "vendor lock-in."
2. Implementation: providing focused direction to external consultants and internal key users, whilst acting as a bridge between the business side's needs and the implementing partner's technical capabilities.
3. Go-live and stabilisation: managing crisis situations during the most critical period of transition.

Successful ERP implementation

An ERP implementation is a marathon, not a sprint. Success is a matter of disciplined methodology and leadership resolve. It does not pay to cut corners on the Phase Zero stage; it is essential to adhere to the software's standard processes in line with the Clean Core principle; and data migration must be treated as a top priority throughout. In this context, an interim manager is akin to an insurance policy, the cost of the mistakes and delays avoided by bringing one in is a fraction of the specialist's fees.

Experienced specialists, Interim Kft. Empowers Hungarian businesses to turn their ERP implementation into a successful digital asset. The objective perspective and practical approach of the firm's experts ensure that the project delivers genuine business value and measurable returns for your organisation.