A 1997 Ford Taurus

Ah 1997, Elton John's Candle in the Wind was on the charts, PDiddy was still Puff Daddy, and one of America's top selling cars was the Ford Taurus.  Maybe you bought one, or more likely had one as a rental car. I swear I drove a Ford Taurus something like 72 weeks in a row when I was consulting. 

Stylin' in the Taurus

She's a beauty, no?

You know what else you might have purchased in 1997?  Your ERP system. The same one that still runs your HR, Payroll, Accounting and Distribution processes.  In 1997, about $14B was spent by organizations on ERP.  By now you would have had to go through two or maybe even three significant upgrades, each one getting progressively more complex, costly, and lengthy.  But underneath it all, the chances are the 'core' of the system is still largely the same as the 1997 model.

What about your business? How many things have changed since 1997?  Would you still make the same ERP purchase decision today that you did in 1997, when chances are you were in a panic over Y2K and you were pretty sure your Cobol mainframe system was going to spontaneously combust.

Is it really time for your organization to begin to let go of the loyalty to a system you bought in 1997? 

Many organizations still feel the need to only look to their ERP solution and try to add-on HR Talent Management functionality, rather than do a comprehensive assessment of the market, the business issues, and make an informed decision about technology. 

You eventually sold (or junked) that '97 Taurus, didn't you?

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