While whisperings about cost blowouts and efficiency expectations shortfalls are rife thanks to disclosure clauses and corporate confidence, rarely does the frustration bubble so dangerously to the surface.
Corporate software PR went into overdrive, as vendors clambered for the opportunity to explain why their particular product was not subject to the shortcomings Murry targeted in his criticisms.
However, the last thing the industry needed was more hype. With IDC forecasting modest growth in the software spend in 2002, up 9.6 percent to AU$2712 million, the emphasis within the enterprise sector remains firmly on products that can deliver a tangible return on investment.
While there is no magic bullet to guarantee the success of a particular implementation, ZDNet Australia has sought out some of the more successful software implementations in an attempt to identify those elements which contribute to the most effective corporate rollouts.
Killing the giants
When it comes to failed implementation horror stories, it is often easier to pick on the largest and slowest moving corporate integrations. Anything enterprise-wide will do. Not only do millions of dollars hang in the balance, the projects are intensely complex, and even if the projects deliver as expected, their "improvements to efficiency" are generally equated with staff cut backs.
In an attempt to address the problems arising from the sheer size of enterprise-wide applications, most high-end vendors have effectively compartmentalised their offerings, and are gradually implementing modules rather than overall solutions.
John Haynes, business relationship manager for IT services at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, is in the midst of just such an implementation.
The aim of the project was to connect a series of disparate administration systems and cut back on operating costs. Launched in 1999, the project saw SAP software gradually rolled out across the university, focussing administration on a single platform and making the costly internal mailing system virtually redundant.
"Previously, any time something was ordered into the uni, it had to be mailed to the finance department, so the internal mailing systems would have carried something in the vicinity of 90,000 to 100,000 documents at any given time," Haynes says.
The other major area of savings Haynes points to is the increased efficiency which comes from cleaner and more readily updateable databases.
"We are looking at a casual workforce of roughly 3000 to 4000 and it becomes virtually impossible to keep a track of where they are living using paper-based methods," says Haynes. "Our staff databases literally went from being about 80 percent accurate, to around 99 percent, which produces savings far beyond what you can simply calculate."
Haynes admits the repercussions on staffing are a terribly sensitive issue, but pointed out that in a loosely federated organisational structure such as RMIT, it was important to allow separate departments time to pick up on any changes.
"I also find out as much as I can about the consultants participating in the integration process," Haynes says. "Sometimes you will get three or four proposals from different vendors all referring to the same two or three consultants - so you soon recognise the big names in the industry."
However, both the vendor and the customer were adamant that the ongoing success of the RMIT project has as much to do with the project management as it does with the technology itself.
SAP Australia's marketing and alliances director, Len Augustine, believes the level of customer participation in the rollout of a new technology at every stage is the key to successful implementations.
"What sets projects like RMIT apart is the level of customer involvement in the integration process, and the sense of ownership they feel for the project," Augustine says. "You can't just hand projects of this size over to the partner. The level of customer participation in every stage of a project's design and implementation is usually indicative of how successful the outcome will be."
According to Augustine, corporate culture in Australia is more broadly focussed on saving - rather than making - money, leading to a softened emphasis on project participation.
"There needs to be a lot more focus on clarifying a project's objectives and requirements early on in the piece," Augustine says. "Change management, staff training and communicating with customers are all fundamental to the process, and need to be dealt with at the planning stage."
