Why do so many enterprises commit to a Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) application before they have agreed upon their requirements?
This is a good question. The short answer it is challenging to come up with the “right” business requirements and when you do they change because of internal or external factors. Caught in the requirement maze, companies need to move forward so they buy a “vanilla” COTS application with the hope that it is better than what they got.
If the COTS application is not going to support a core function, there are merits with going with a COTS application. The application may encourage the organization to eliminate bad practices.
If the COTS application is to support a core business function where the enterprise distinguishes itself from the competition, this is a real challenge to define the “right” business requirements, define the “right” implementation solution, and to implement the solution in the “right” manner. Blindly implementing a “vanilla” COTS solution for a core business function may look good on paper, but will more than likely not go well in practice.
Tags: ERP. Software, Requirements