Organisational readiness and its impact on ERP acquisition: A longitudinal study of an indian dairy processing unit

ERP systems acquisition is an organisational issue since it brings in a new environment. This not only changes the way process is handled (process re-engineering), but also influences the organisation¿s culture and people. ERP imposes technology-driven environment with an aim to enhance process productivity, information integration and user interfaces. Research indicates many ERP projects still ¿fail to deliver¿ results due to organisational complexities instead of commonly perceived technology dimensions. In this paper a framework is discussed to understand the ¿readiness¿ in an organisation. An ERP acquisition is said to be successful if it is put to effective use and benefits are achieved as expected. Organisation¿s ¿readiness¿ is essential to manage these issues and the ¿readiness¿ should be well planned before initiation of ERP systems acquisition. The framework is applied to a dairy processing unit over a period of time during which ERP system was acquired and impact of ¿readiness¿ is observed.