ERP Transformations Part 3 – Inadequate Resources

December 22, 2025 / ali.s /

Inadequate Resources: The Right People in the Wrong Roles (or Not There at All)

By ERP Transformation Practitioners – In the Field Since 1995.

 

After three decades of ERP transformations, one reality remains painfully consistent:

Even the best plan will fail if the wrong people are asked to execute it.

In Part 1 of this series, we identified Inadequate Resources as the second systemic reason ERP transformations struggle. Part 2 explored how poor planning undermines programs before delivery even begins. In this installment, we turn to the human execution layer—the place where well-intended ERP programs quietly unravel. Because in ERP transformations, people—not platforms—determine outcomes.

 

1. The ERP Talent Gap Is Structural, Not Accidental

ERP programs demand a rare combination of skills: deep platform knowledge, business acumen, integration awareness, and the ability to operate under sustained complexity. These skills are not interchangeable—and they are not evenly distributed. Yet Tier 1 implementation partners have long treated ERP resourcing as a volume exercise rather than a capability discipline. Over the years, we’ve watched this pattern repeat itself:

  • Senior experts dominate the sales cycle
  • Junior or offshore teams dominate execution
  • Key roles rotate midstream with little context transfer
  • “Bench” resources are assigned based on availability, not fit

This is not a one-off failure. It is a delivery model. And it creates a dangerous mismatch between what was promised and what shows up.

 

2. The “Bait and Switch” Problem Still Defines Too Many ERP Programs

The industry has normalized a practice that would be unacceptable in almost any other domain. Organizations sign contracts based on the credibility of experienced practitioners—only to discover weeks later that those individuals are “temporarily unavailable,” “needed elsewhere,” or “transitioning off.” What replaces them is often:

  • Less experienced consultants learning the client’s business in real time
  • Overpromised offshore support, under-delivering customer expectations
  • High turnover masked as “knowledge transition”
  • Delivery leads managing volume rather than quality

The result is predictable (and reoccurring):

  • Slower progress
  • Lower design quality
  • Increased rework
  • Escalations that arrive too late

ERP programs don’t collapse overnight—they erode quietly under the weight of underqualified execution.

 

3. Critical Roles Are Often Undervalued—or Filled Too Late

One of the most common resource mistakes we see is misalignment of experience to role criticality. Certain roles carry disproportionate risk in ERP transformations, yet they are frequently under-resourced or staffed late: 

  • Project leads starting to plan after the project train already left the station
  • Solution and enterprise architects brought in after scope is locked
  • Data leads tasked with unrealistic timelines and unvetted assumptions
  • Integration owners inheriting undocumented landscapes
  • Testing and quality leads engaged only once defects explode
  • Change and adoption leads added after resistance is entrenched

These roles are not “support functions.” They are structural pillars. When they are underpowered—or absent—the program compensates with heroics, not discipline.

 

4. Client Teams Are Expected to Carry an Unrealistic Load

Inadequate resourcing is not just a partner problem—it’s also an internal one. Many organizations dramatically underestimate the effort required from their own teams. Subject matter experts are expected to:

  • Attend design workshops

  • Validate requirements
  • Make decisions
  • Support testing
  • Manage change
  • all while maintaining full-time operational responsibilities

This creates a silent failure mode:

  • Delayed decisions
  • Incomplete requirements
  • Compromised testing
  • Burnout among top performers

ERP programs succeed when client teams are enabled, protected, and backfilled. When they aren’t, the organization itself becomes the bottleneck.

 

5. Resource Continuity Is Rare—but Essential

ERP delivery is cumulative. Context matters. History matters. Decisions compound. Yet Tier 1 partners frequently rotate resources to satisfy broader portfolio demands. What looks like a simple staffing change often results in: 

  • Loss of design intent
  • Re-litigation of past decisions
  • Increased technical debt
  • Fractured accountability

We’ve seen entire work streams stall because a single experienced lead was replaced midstream. Continuity is not a “nice to have.” It is a risk management strategy.

 

What Adequate Resourcing Actually Looks Like

After decades in the field—across successful transformations and painful recoveries – certain resourcing principles consistently separate outcomes: 

  1. Experience Where It Matters Most:
    • Strategic roles require senior practitioners with full-cycle ERP experience, not resumes built on fragments.
  2. Named Resources, Not Generic Profiles:
    • Contracts should lock in people, not promises.
  3. Balanced Onshore and Nearshore Models:
    • Align cost efficiency with time-zone, culture and expertise.
  4. Early and Sustained Engagement of Project Leads:
    • These roles should shape the program, not react to it.
  5. Protected Client-Side Capacity:
    • Backfill is not optional, it is foundational.
  6. Limited and Controlled Resource Turnover:
    • Especially during Design and Build phases.

 

In Summary

ERP transformations do not fail because organizations lack talent. They fail because talent is misapplied, diluted, or introduced too late. When the right people are placed in the wrong roles – or not there at all, the program compensates with effort instead of expertise. And effort alone is never enough.

In Part 4 of this series, we’ll address the third and final root cause: Inadequate Leadership Experience, and why governance without seasoned leadership quickly devolves into theater.

 

Until then, ask yourself:

Do the people delivering your ERP transformation have the experience and the authority to succeed?

 

About Gravity IT Resources

Gravity is a Human Capital Management company headquartered in Fort Lauderdale with offices across the country including Atlanta, Charlotte, Columbus, Cincinnati, Nashville, DC, Salt Lake City, San Diego and Tampa. Our company has been recognized by Inc. Magazine as an “Inc. 5000” award winner and one of the fastest growing privately held companies in the United States for the last 7 consecutive years (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025). Additionally, Gravity is proud to be Great Place to Work certified for the 5th year in a row (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025) and was also recognized on the SIA’s Fastest-Growing Staffing Firms in the US list the last two years (2024, 2025).

Gravity helps prominent clients like Salesforce, Chewy, Carnival Cruise Lines, AutoNation, Mosaic and hundreds of other enterprise and SMB companies to identify, recruit and hire IT professionals for their most critical projects and jobs. Our recruitment spans across various roles, including artificial intelligence (AI) specialists, software engineers, cloud engineers, project managers, data engineers, business analysts, security engineers, CXO leaders and more.

Gravity provides a variety of delivery models and services designed to meet client needs efficiently and effectively.

To learn more about Gravity IT Resources practices, career opportunities and culture, visit gravityitresources.com

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