Why IT projects in companies fail

Dusseldorf The software that companies use to control business processes such as accounting, merchandise management or controlling is something like the central nervous system of an organization. The introduction of a new program for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), as the discipline is called in technical jargon, is therefore a major challenge. If something goes wrong, in the worst case the business is paralysed.

At Aldi, a messed-up software project is currently slowing down further purchasing integration between Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd. In recent years, further negative examples have become public. A rule of thumb applies among IT service providers who specialize in the products of the market leader SAP: around half of the projects take longer and cost more than planned. In the end, the new range of functions is sometimes less than hoped for.