You want to play with the ERP big boys (SAP and Oracle), instead of the so-called Tier II ERP providers (Epicor, Infor, Lawson)? Then you better be prepared to pay a lot more ($9 million to $13 million) and plan for a longer implementation (two to three months longer). And guess what: At the end of, say, your Oracle ERP implementation, your executive team is actually going to be less satisfied with the software’s results than it would have been from a Tier II ERP provider. That’s according to new survey results from ERP consultancy Panorama Consulting Group. The data, gathered from December 2005 to November 2008, is culled from 670 participants who have implemented ERP during the last three years. In the study, Tier I providers are SAP, Oracle and Microsoft; Tier II include Epicor, Exact, IFS, Infor, Lawson, NetSuite, and Sage. (To read about NetSuite’s 10-year journey to profitability, see “NetSuite’s SaaS ERP Story: After 10 Years, an Upstart Finally Turns a Profit.”) Here are some survey highlights (or low lights, depending on which ERP provider you select): The majority of respondents (77 percent) had chosen a Tier I provider (SAP 35 percent; Oracle 28 percent; and Microsoft: 14 percent). The rest (23 percent) went with the Tier II. So, what was the total cost of the average EPR implementation? SAP $16.8 million; Oracle $12.6 million; and Microsoft $2.6 million. Tier II average: $3.5 million. (Microsoft’s figure is pretty impressive.) And how long did it take respondents to fully implement the ERP solution? SAP 20 months; Oracle 18.6 months; and Microsoft 18 months. Tier II: 17.8 months. Now, the multimillion-dollar question: How satisfied are the executive team and users with the ERP solution? SAP 73 percent (Panorama’s “satisfaction rating”); Oracle 62 percent; and Microsoft 69 percent. Tier II: 70 percent. “Tier II vendors have clearly stepped up their strategies to compete with the ‘big boys’ of Tier I,” noted Eric Kimberling, president of Panorama Consulting Group, in announcing the survey results. “But now that the field has more qualified players, the burden is on the buyer.” These survey results are the second part of Panorama’s in-depth ERP study. In the first piece, Panorama’s data showed that today’s ERP rollout has only a 7 percent chance of coming in on time, will probably cost more than what companies estimated, and will likely deliver very unsatisfying results. Which can lead to outright nightmare ERP scenarios or even shareholder angst leading to halted ERP implementations. All that led me to prognosticate that even with the high importance companies place on their ERP systems today, an ERP backlash is imminent at companies of all shapes and sizes. I think I now need to modify that statement to: “an ERP backlash is imminent at companies using Tier I ERP providers.” Related content opinion What CIOs Need to Know About HP's Acquisition of Autonomy Here's why you should be paying attention: it's a big analytics play that could help lead the way to making sense of all the unstructured data that's overwhelming enterprises of all sizes, says analyst Charles King. By Todd R. Weiss Aug 24, 2011 4 mins Business Intelligence Data Warehousing Data Management opinion Enterprise BI Made Simple Will a simplified version of enterprise business intelligence software spur user adoption? Gartner analyst James Richardson thinks so. By Todd R. Weiss Aug 15, 2011 4 mins Business Intelligence Data Management opinion ERP Market Shake-Up: What It Means to Your Company ERP vendors continue to merge and be acquired at a steady pace in 2011. Here are some tips on how you can protect your company's interests as the marketplace continues to shift, from analyst Albert Pang. By Todd R. Weiss Aug 03, 2011 4 mins CIO ERP Systems Enterprise Applications opinion Cut IT Costs for Older ERP Apps With Third-Party Support Some large enterprises are looking to third-party ERP support providers to reduce their maintenance and support costs by 50 percent or more rather than sticking with their existing ERP vendors. Rebecca Wettemann of Nucleus Research explains the circu By Todd R. Weiss Aug 02, 2011 4 mins ERP Systems IT Strategy Enterprise Applications Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe