Like most business investments, the success of an ERP implementation project is measured by its ROI. This makes sense, particularly in an increasingly uncertain economic climate where the wrong financial decision can have a catastrophic impact on the long-term viability of an organization. However, the way in which the value of ERP systems is measured might be wrong, and it may be causing more companies to deem their respective projects as failures, even if that's not the case.

While ROI is the bottom line for just about everybody, how businesses get to determining if they received a positive return on investment can vary. For some companies, measuring the wrong aspects of their operations can lead to inaccurate assessments. 

This was brought up in a recent Supply Demand Chain Executive article, which asserted that the reason over half of ERP projects are deemed "unsuccessful" is because they aren't being properly measured. Brian Dunn, the article's author, said that companies need to construct better ways to measure ERP project success, but part of the problem is that many of these measurements may not be required to associate with ERP.

"The reality is that the major value drivers behind ERP to date are more easily tied to fundamental business-led initiatives, such as a change in the go-to-market strategy, a move to shared services or changes to how the supply chain is managed," Dunn wrote. "The ongoing debate is usually around whether or not these had been truly ERP-enabled (read: ERP required), or if the business could have pursued these initiatives independently of ERP."

Businesses need to evaluate their specific needs prior to selecting an ERP solution. Working with a business management software provider can help with this effort.