Enterprise Systems. Strategic, Organizational, and Technological Dimensions

Abstract

Information Technology (IT) offshoring is changing the way IT departments are run and organized by organizations. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications are changing the way organizations run their businesses. Both are seminal trends which bring along with their associated benefits to organizations. However, both IT offshoring and ERP implementations are loaded with risks. When IT offshoring and ERP implementations happen together, the risks get compounded. This paper presents the critical success factors of offshoring ERP implementations. The study is an exploratory and qualitative study that starts with in depth interviews and concludes with a focus group discussion. The findings reveal that six factors are critical in offshoring of ERP implementations, namely communication & culture, offshoring partner, organization change management, project management, team skills and work & team distribution. The scope of the study was restricted to offshoring happening from Europe to India and the focus was on large offshoring engagements.