Critical success factors for successful enterprise resource planning implementation at Indian SMEs

Abstract

Small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) have been receiving lesser focus from the software vendors than large enterprises (LEs).Research on the implementation of ERP in certain European countries shows that the job of implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a riskier business for SMEs than for LEs. In this paper, a framework has been adopted to cover both the national (Indian) and the organization size (SMEs) aspects to identify and rank the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) that influence the success of ERP implementation at Indian SMEs. This paper attempts to build a consensus from the previous research and to derive a unified ERP implementation success model of the critical success factors to guide a successful ERP implementation at Indian SMEs that differs from existing models in that it has a broader and more holistic focus due to the coverage of thirty CSFs. A model is developed with the help of quantitative survey based method to identify and rank the thirty critical success factors and then a framework has been proposed in terms of recommendations for managing these CSFs. Two close ended questionnaires were used to collect the data from the Indian ERP consultants, those who are having experience of ERP implementation in India for almost all types of Indian industries including Indian SMEs. The data collected were analyzed using statistical techniques such as factor analysis and non parametric tests. This paper argues that ERP implementation at Indian SMEs should extend its scope beyond the configuration to the process, enterprise, technology, vendor, end-user, human resource, performance, quality, strategy and project related issues by considering these thirty critical success factors for the success of ERP implementation at Indian SMEs that may put Indian SMEs on the competitive position. The ERP implementation success model simplifies the functionality of ERP implementation at Indian SMEs. The simplification of system makes easier to understand the ERP requirements. Although limited sample size restricted to Indian SMEs may limit generalization but still these factors can be put into practice to facilitate the process of successful ERP implementations at Indian SMEs. It is hoped that this research will help to bridge the current literature gap and provide practical advice for both academics and practitioners for successful ERP implementation at Indian SMEs.