ERP implementation is often presented as a promise of greater efficiency. It centralises data, automates processes and streamlines information flows.
The equation seems simple: a well-implemented ERP equals more productive teams. However, this correlation is far from automatic and may even reverse when considering the real cost of day-to-day operations.
1. A central tool, but not always user-friendly
ERP systems are often positioned as catalysts for operational efficiency: a single source of truth, harmonised processes and streamlined workflows. In theory, this centralisation should remove redundancy, eliminate double entries and speed up decision-making.
In reality, the tool imposes a rigid structure that users must learn to navigate. Every task involves a series of screens, mandatory fields and intermediate validations.
For many employees, especially those who use the system occasionally, this standardisation creates a significant cognitive load.
ERP interfaces are rarely designed from a user-first perspective. User experience is typically driven by process logic, security rules or compliance requirements.
As a result, employees often spend more time navigating the system than completing their actual tasks.
2. A promise of automation that comes at a price
Automating a business flow in an ERP involves far more than activating a feature.
It requires defining precise rules, modelling step sequences, configuring dependencies, testing multiple scenarios and maintaining the entire setup over time. A poorly designed automation rule can block an order, duplicate an invoice or disrupt a supply chain.
And as soon as a business context changes, such as a new legal entity, VAT update or approval structure, part or all of the automation must be reworked. This demands collaboration between business and IT teams, testing, and trade-offs that often consume costly internal and external resources.
While automation helps avoid manual tasks, it creates long-term dependency on complex rules that are expensive to evolve. This overhead may eventually outweigh the benefit of the task it replaced.
3. Individual productivity often sacrificed for collective gain
One of ERP’s major benefits is the consolidation of data at organisational level.
It allows business leaders, finance teams and support functions to access structured, reliable, usable data. But this collective value depends on a simple principle: it is front-line users who feed the system.
They enter data that is sometimes redundant, follow strict procedures and justify operational choices using drop-down lists often disconnected from their daily reality. They complete forms that are designed for audit or traceability purposes, not to support their own productivity.
This administrative burden, combined with a lack of visibility on the impact of their contributions, generates inefficiency. Users give a lot, yet receive little in terms of personal productivity gains. This leads to disengagement, workarounds or gradual loss of motivation.
4. Deployment logic driven by cost
ERP projects are major investments. IT and finance departments are often under pressure to optimise costs by cutting corners in key areas such as change management, documentation, pilot testing or deep training. Yet these are precisely the elements that enable users to truly adopt the system.
When focus is placed only on covering critical functionalities, the ERP is technically deployed but lacks proper support for real usage. Users are left to figure things out on their own, resulting in errors, time loss or the development of parallel solutions.
Initial configurations are often locked in to stay within budget, even if they do not fully meet the needs of teams. Adjustments are postponed, creating a long-lasting mismatch between the tool and actual business practices. Only a new and costly project phase can correct that misalignment.
Conclusion
An ERP is not a natural driver of individual productivity. It is a framework, an infrastructure, a backbone for processes. But it does not generate value for users if it is perceived as rigid, time-consuming or disconnected from real work.
Far from being a simple tool, ERP becomes a system that needs to be maintained, understood and managed, often requiring significant effort in terms of people, budget and organisation. Productivity, in this context, depends less on the ERP itself and more on the company’s ability to build a usage model that is simple, clear and aligned with actual user needs. Without this strategy, what should be a performance enabler can quickly become a source of hidden costs.
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