Business System Consultation Center - Our Business System ColumnVol.50 2015.02.01 Takahashi Minoru

Why do companies fail when implementing standard package software?

Thank you for your interest and continued support.
This is Takahashi from the Marketing Plan Research Laboratory.


Many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) strive to survive and retain customers
and to differentiate themselves from competitors,
and are likely devoting their efforts to fostering their own unique corporate culture and rules.


The reason companies must differentiate themselves through their work methods
is likely because the products or services they handle have few distinguishing features on their own (in other words, because competitors exist).
Since standard methods are insufficient to beat the competition,
small and medium-sized enterprises in Japan are constantly striving to find their own unique ways to succeed.


Standard off-the-shelf software is a very attractive service.
It’s feature-rich, affordable, versatile, and seems easy to use and sell—
and so well-crafted that it seems as though every company in the world could use it—
it even makes me envision the ideal scenario as a systems engineer.


So, can all companies run their operations on packaged software?
the answer is NO.
And when you ask why system integrators like us, who primarily handle custom or semi-custom projects,
still survive in such large numbers?
the key lies in the “survival strategies of small and medium-sized enterprises” mentioned at the beginning.


Small and medium-sized enterprises that have survived the cutthroat competition
always possess a “unique philosophy” within their organization.
This philosophy is deeply ingrained and extends not only to employees but also to business partners.
If you try to introduce “standard off-the-shelf software” into such an environment,
it simply doesn’t fit in.
Standard off-the-shelf software cannot fully accommodate a company’s unique culture or customer strategies,
and even if the system appears usable on the surface, flaws will start to show up everywhere after implementation.


I think companies that have found a systems sales representative capable of identifying these factors are very fortunate.


That's all, Thank you for reading.

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