| Technology is a tool that, when used properly, can make dramatic improvements in the productivity of operations and the work of support employees. As organizations strive to become more competitive in their product or service offering, they find themselves at the mercy of unanswered questions, excellence as achieved by their competitor's best practices, and ever changing technology. While low cost, on-time delivery, flexibility, high quality, and exceptional service are the competitive priorities organizations have competed on for decades, the ability to excel in more than one or two of these areas stagnated competition among rivals through the mid 1990's. As changes in technology rapidly advanced in the 1990's, a new competitive element was born that enabled organizations to compete on multiple competitive priorities, making them more competitive and driving competitors far behind. The new technological offering, initially introduced as an answer to antiquated systems and year 2000 issues, was called Enterprise Resource Planning. This new mammoth technology formed after its predecessor Materials Requirement Planning, enabled organizations to connect vendors, the organization, and customers in an almost seamless manner with real-time accurate communication and information. Enterprise Resource Planning comes with a high price, complex system of database and modules, and plethora of changes in the way support staff do their job. Organizations striving for the benefits Enterprise Resource Planning has to offer, often find themselves in self destruct modes and eventual bankruptcy. In order to insure success in Enterprise Resource Planning adoption, successfully completing the implementation process is a critical undertaking. Critical success factors and attention to the change in technology being adopted, the change management in people affected by the technology, and the adoption of proven best business practices lead to the achievement of success in the adoption of these systems. This research studies the effects of critical success factors grouped into categories of change in technology, change management, and best business practices in an effort to test for a significant link between each separately and combined during implementations, to successful Enterprise Resource Planning adoptions in hopes that future adoptions find increased success. |
