WHY THE PROVEN PATH IS PROVEN

There are three main reasons why the Proven Path is so effective. The
first is its tight alignment with the ABC’s of ERP—people, data,
computer. It mirrors those priorities, reflecting the intensive need for
education to address the people issue.
The second reason also concerns alignment with the logical construct
of Enterprise Resource Planning. The Proven Path methodology
is in sync with ERP’s structure.
Third, the Proven Path is based completely on demonstrated results.
One more time: It is a lot of work but virtually no risk. If a company
follows the Proven Path faithfully, sincerely, and vigorously, it
will become Class A—and it won’t take forever.
“Oh, really,” you might be thinking, “how can you be so certain?
What about all the ‘ERP failures’ I’ve heard about? You yourselves
said just a few pages ago there were more Class C and D users than
Class A and B. That indicates that our odds for high success are less
than 50 percent.”
Our response: It’s up to you. If you want to have the odds for Class
A or B less than 50 percent, you have that choice. On the other hand,
if you want the odds for success to be near 100 percent, you can do
so. Here’s why. The total population of Class C and D users includes
virtually zero companies who followed the Proven Path closely and
faithfully. Most of them are companies who felt that ERP was a computer
deal to order parts and help close the books faster, and that’s
what they wound up with. Others in this category tried to do it without
educating their people and/or without getting their data accurate.
Others got diverted by software issues. Or politics.
Here’s the bottom line: Of the companies who’ve implemented via
the Proven Path, who’ve sincerely and rigorously gone at it the right
way, virtually all of them have achieved a Class A or high Class B
level of success with ERP. And they’ve realized enormous benefits as
a result.
There are no sure things in life. Achieving superior results with
ERP, from following the Proven Path, is about as close as it gets.