Extended ERP Consulting Competence

• Although Sweden is an early adopter of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and most companies have installed an ERP package, extended ERP is barely used by small and medium sized companies (SMEs). The situation can be described as SMEs use ERP systems as advanced accounting systems. Juell-Skielse (2006) suggests that the low level of adoption is caused by a lack of competence among consulting firms who plays an important role in transferring knowledge about the application and use of extended ERP. They tend to have a technical focus on ERP and rely heavily on the support and maintenance of old installations. Hence, they are caught in a negative spiral where extended ERP knowledge is developed rather slowly. This study investigates the competence levels among ERP consultants focusing on SMEs. The results show that only a few consultants are able to present extended ERP in a homogenous offering and that a majority of the revenues come from licenses as well as support and maintenance of client installations. There is a clear difference between consultants with a process development focus and firms with a system implementation focus. Process developers are bigger in size and have developed delivery capabilities in a larger number of extended ERP areas than system implementers, while the latter receive more of their revenues from maintenance and support of existing installations. A model of the firm as a knowledge system can explain the interaction between consultants and SMEs and how extended ERP competence is developing. The relationship between ERP consultants and SMEs is a promising area of research. This area should be added to Al-Mashari’s research agenda for ERP (2002).

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Systemvetenskap, informationssystem och informatik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Information Systems (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

enterprise

resource

planning

small

and

medium

sized

enterprises

consulting

competence

ERP

adoption

ERP

consulting

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)