Firetruck Maker Blames Bankruptcy on Failed ERP Implementation

http://blogs.zdnet.com/projectfailures/?p=583

by edw519 • 18 years ago

15 20 18 years ago

blogs.zdnet.com

edw5195• 18 years ago

I know it's not glamorous, but this area is a phenomenal opportunity for today's generation of hackers and painters. ERP is representative of all that is bad (and good!) where business meets IT.

Most people tell me I'm nuts to focus on this. I can't wait to prove them wrong.

mixmax• 18 years ago

I totally agree, and I would go for it.

And I think that it actually is sexy, you have to make order out of huge amounts of data that is different for each customer and present it in a nice formatted way that a manager can understand, make sense of, and base decicions on.

That is actually a really hard and really interesting problem.

projectileboy2• 18 years ago

The opportunity would be golden if you were competing against other hackers. But you're not. You're competing against other companies' sales forces. And if you think you're ready to go head-to-head against the sales forces of IBM, Oracle, SAP, etc. etc., then you may be in for a very bad-tasting dish of reality.

Having said that, if you can succeed, then there are millions of people using unbelievably crappy software in offices around the world that would thank you for your efforts.

edw5195• 18 years ago

"think you're ready to go head-to-head against the sales forces of IBM, Oracle, SAP"

Been there. Done that. For certain customers (mostly midmarket), it's like shooting fish in a barrel. Accountable people in small to medium size businesses see right through the B.S. and are desperate for alternatives. I wouldn't even attempt to sell to a Fortune 1000 bureaucracy.

"millions of people using unbelievably crappy software in offices around the world that would thank you for your efforts"

Hundreds already have. I'm planning on using more modern technologies to reach the millions.

cstejerean3• 18 years ago

Why do you just have to compete against other hackers? I would rather compete against big established businesses that never seem to get anything done than race neck in neck with other smart hackers.

At least you'll manage to annoy one of the existing players and they (or one of their competitors) can buy you out.

pchristensen4• 18 years ago

I would love to tackle this problem. The problem is that even if you had the greatest technical solution, you would still have to sell it to big companies. This means having a big sales force and long sales cycles, which means VC investment (in a non-sexy area, good luck). Alternately, you could start with smaller companies that would be more reasonable to sell to, but then you'd have to bootstrap a reputation before you could sell to bigger companies, and that would take many years, also requiring VC funds. I think it would be doable and ridiculously satisfying to succeed at, but it's a very different business, structurally, than most YCNews readers are interested in.

davidw• 18 years ago

There are some open source efforts out there that are kind of interesting, although incomplete. Apache OFBiz for example:

http://ofbiz.apache.org/

(Yes, they have been told that a bit of white space wouldn't hurt).

gibsonf1• 18 years ago

I agree :)

mkrigsman• 18 years ago

It's not just ERP. Enterprise software in general is considered "not sexy". However, when you consider the percentage of the world's economy that flows through these systems, they are massively important.

Michael Krigsman http://blogs.zdnet.com/projectfailures

pchristensen4• 18 years ago

I think the reason enterprise isn't "sexy" is that it doesn't get chosen based on quality. It isn't bought by the people that use it, it isn't chosen by technical people that can appreciate differences, heck, it isn't chosen based on likelihood of success, etc, etc, etc. Because of this, software excellence isn't rewarded and so those that can produce excellent software go elsewhere. The market for it is broken and enterprise software won't get better until it's fixed.

edw5195• 18 years ago

True at the Fortune 1000 level. Not so true at many midsize and small businesses. These guys HATE buying enterprise software, but in many cases feel they have no choice. That's changing. Just like microcomputers ate at the underbelly of IBM's mainframe lock 25 years ago, web apps are poised to do the same thing to enterprise software now. And in both cases, the change happens at smaller companies, where I intend to be. The giant dinosaurs are the last to adopt.

jraines• 18 years ago

I think I'd rather be put in charge of pacifying Gaul than implementing an ERP for a public company.

cstejerean3• 18 years ago

did aomeone finally get fired for choosing IBM?

Firetruck Maker Blames Bankruptcy on Failed ERP Implementation

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