More than 70% of ERP initiatives are unlikely to meet their business goals, says Gartner research, because of a history of ‘large failed projects’. SPAR is not alone, and ERP has lost much of its lustre thanks to its poor success rate and expense. The issue, however, is not the technology.

“ERP projects aren’t failing because of bad platforms,” says Neda Smith, founder and CEO of Agile Advisory Services. “They fail because of bad governance, a consistent lack of internal ownership, and poor visibility into corporate goals.”

Most ERP projects start with good intentions and high expectations but without the right internal scaffolding, the cracks show early and widen quickly. Smith points to four common breakdowns: “We see scope creep almost immediately, no one defines what success looks like, vendors are misaligned with the business, and critically, there’s often no one internally who’s empowered to drive the programme end-to-end.”

A poor grip on delivery means risk increases exponentially. Internal teams become reactive, vendors operate without accountability, and there’s no clear plan of action. This makes it easy for leadership to look at an ERP implementation and assume it’s an IT issue, however, the challenges don’t rest in firewalls or databases. It comes down to business change.

In theory, the CIO is the executive sponsor, but they’re often placed in an impossible position, expected to lead transformation across the business while juggling internal friction, vendor demands and live operations. The average CIO, says Smith, isn’t just managing the ERP programme, they’re trying to keep the business running.

“Without support from the board and governance that actually works, the CIO is set up to fail,” she continues.

It’s a pattern that’s becoming more visible as time and ERP implementations go on. In 2024, Birmingham City Council’s £100 million Oracle project was formally declared a failure with budget overspends, service delivery failures and a high-profile investigation. An audit by Grant Thornton found that there were systemic governance and vendor management failures.

The fix lies in building a foundation that restores visibility, accountability and control, not in ripping out systems or throwing more consultants at the problem. “Governance is not an admin function,” says Smith. “It’s an executive responsibility and the only way to protect the investment. You need to define a clear success framework before the first invoice is paid, ensuring vendors are contractually aligned to business outcomes and not just milestones.”

The goal is to create a single point of internal accountability with someone who has authority across workstreams, and to surface risks early, managing them through structured reporting and escalation. The starting point is to understand where visibility has been lost and then build the governance structure from the inside out.

“If there’s no governance, there’s no project. You may have milestones, timelines and deliverables, but what you don’t have control, and when there’s no control, the cost escalates and business confidence deflates,” says Smith.

ERP implementation is rarely clean or linear. Some companies are at the starting line, trying to evaluate proposals, while others are knee-deep in delivery and facing a mounting sense of unease. Some are firefighting and watching timelines slip, partners stall and internal confidence decline. But it is never too late to intervene.

“We’ve been brought in at every stage, and we start every conversation the same way – how do we take back control,” says Smith. “Structured governance becomes a form of operational resilience that allows you to make faster decisions, flag issues early, and course-correct before damage is done. You can’t outsource success, but you can put the right structures in place.”