Panorama Consulting Solutions Releases Clash of the Titans 2012: An Independent Comparison of SAP, Oracle and Microsoft Dynamics

CENTENNIAL, CO, July 13, 2012 (Press-News.org) The majority of SAP, Oracle and Microsoft Dynamics ERP customers with business cases report that their ERP implementations delivered less than 50-percent of anticipated business benefits, according to the Clash of the Titans 2012: An Independent Comparison of SAP, Oracle and Microsoft Dynamics report issued today by Panorama Consulting Solutions. Only 23-percent of SAP customers, 24-percent of Oracle customers and 23-percent of Microsoft Dynamics customers report receiving 51-percent or more of the possible benefits determined in their business cases. Analysis of the online survey results further discovered that respondents only specified availability of information (60-percent), increased interaction across business (13-percent), decreased labor costs (7-percent) and improved lead time (7-percent) as business benefits received.

"These issues certainly are not limited to Tier I ERP system implementations and should serve to underscore how critical it is that organizations hold both internal and external teams accountable for benefits realization regardless of the software chosen," said Eric Kimberling, president of Panorama Consulting Solutions. "Our team has experience implementing SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft Dynamics for hundreds of organizations worldwide. Our clients' results look very different than the companies represented in the survey, which suggests that most ERP consultants, system integrators and vendors simply are not doing a good job implementing for their clients."

Respondent organizations also indicated that their SAP, Oracle or Microsoft Dynamics ERP implementations went over-schedule 61-percent of the time. Oracle users reported the highest variance between planned (14 months) and actual (18 months) implementation durations as well as the longest overall duration. Microsoft Dynamics users planned for 11-month durations but experienced 13-month durations and SAP users planned for 15-month durations but experienced 17-month durations. The delays were primarily due to expansion of initial project scope (29-percent), organizational issues (20-percent) data issues (17-percent) and resource constrains (17-percent). The frequency of the challenges increased in seven out of eight categories from 2011 to 2012, suggesting that companies are having increased difficulty implementing their ERP software.

"Typically, Clash of the Titans pits SAP vs. Oracle vs. Microsoft Dynamics," said Kimberling. "But the real story here is organizations vs. their own best interests. By failing to properly plan, determine escalation and decision-making frameworks, devote enough consideration to organizational change management, or hire the independent third-party experts necessary to deliver ERP success, companies will rarely - if ever - implement on time or receive the benefits they expect."
In addition to benefit realization and implementation duration, the report also provides analysis of SAP, Oracle and Microsoft Dynamics in relation to market share, listing and selection rates and payback periods. The report concludes with a summary of each of the three ERP vendor's strengths and weaknesses.

To offer further analysis of the study results, Kimberling will present a free webinar on Thursday, July 12 at 10 a.m. MT. Learn more and register for the webinar at http://panorama-consulting.com/resource-center/erp-webinars/. Download Clash of the Titans 2012 at http://panorama-consulting.com/resource-center/clash-of-the-titans-sap-vs-oracle-vs-microsoft-dynamics/.

About Clash of the Titans 2012: An Independent Comparison of SAP, Oracle and Microsoft Dynamics
Research for Clash of the Titans was conducted by Panorama Consulting Solutions via online polling on its website from 2006 to 2012. There were 691 participants from 61 countries. The full report (and additional independent industry research) can be accessed at: http://panorama-consulting.com/resource-center/clash-of-the-titans-sap-vs-oracle-vs-microsoft-dynamics/.

For further information, please contact us at 720-515-1377 or pr@panorama-consulting.com.