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The Long Conversation: Learning How to Master Enterprise Systems
Lorenzo, Oswaldo , Peter Kawalek, and Boumediene Ramdani
52/1  (Fall 2009): 140-166

Few early enterprise systems (ESs) implementations lived up to expectations. How can companies meet or exceed their expectations for enterprise systems? Far from providing a quick fix, the potential of ESs is better achieved through a slow and diligent learning process. This approach emphasizes the need for organizations to focus less on the technical and temporal aspects of ES projects and rather to view them as forming part of a long journey led by users. New social networks emerge as a result of the problems and opportunities based around learning, building, and sharing users’ experiences. This article develops a new model for successfully mastering enterprise systems, which is labeled “the long conversation.” The application of this model has important implications for practitioners involved in the implementation of an ES.

 

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