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Businesses have less than a 50% chance of an SAP implementation delivering what it is supposed to, according to a new study. Given that SAP runs business processes that drive a company’s operations, failing to meet expectations can have a potentially devastating impact on the bottom line, and on the CEO’s effectiveness to push forward a business strategy. Explaining the study’s findings, former Gartner SAP analyst Derek Prior said: “We are seeing that despite 20 years of implementing SAP, companies are spending millions and are still screwing up. It is hard for customers to admit they are doing things wrong.” Prior said SAP’s function is to provide a back-office ERP (enterprise resource planning), which needs to link up with digital initiatives. To use Gartner terminology, it is the "Mode 2" back-office function that is essential for a seamless customer experience in "Mode 1" customer-facing applications. SAP configurations are designed to support best practices and customers may have system integrators who help the business ...