Swiss mid-market ERP programmes rarely collapse. They drift. The go-live moves by a quarter, then another, and the business case quietly stops being mentioned. By the time anyone calls it a failure, the money is already spent.
Across the engagements we review, the technology is almost never the binding constraint. The constraint is decision latency: how long it takes an organisation to answer a question the implementation cannot proceed without.
Where the time actually goes
A stalled programme looks busy. Standups happen, tickets move, consultants bill. What is not moving is the set of open questions that block configuration.
| Phase | Planned | Typical actual | Main driver of the gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blueprint | 8 weeks | 14 weeks | Process ownership unclear |
| Configuration | 16 weeks | 22 weeks | Decisions reopened after sign-off |
| Data migration | 6 weeks | 13 weeks | Source data quality discovered late |
| UAT | 4 weeks | 9 weeks | Test cases written after the build |
The pattern repeats because the same root cause repeats. Nobody owns the answer, so the answer arrives late, and everything downstream absorbs the delay.
What is decision latency?
Decision latency is the elapsed time between a question being raised by the implementation team and a binding answer being given by the business. It is the single most predictive number we track, and almost nobody measures it.
Measure it for two weeks. Log every blocking question, who it went to, and when it came back. The distribution will tell you more about your go-live date than the project plan will.
Three fixes that move the date
- Name a single decision owner per process area. Not a committee. One person who can say no on Friday and have it stick on Monday.
- Put a clock on open decisions. A question older than five working days is escalated automatically, not discussed at the next steering committee.
- Freeze the scope by decision, not by date. A scope freeze that does not close the underlying questions just moves the argument later.
None of this requires new software. It requires someone with the authority to close questions and the discipline to do it on a cadence.
How long should a mid-market ERP programme take?
For a Swiss company between 200 and 1,500 employees with one primary legal entity, a realistic first go-live is nine to fourteen months from blueprint. Programmes that promise six months are usually excluding data migration, and programmes that plan for two years are usually absorbing decision latency into the schedule rather than fixing it.
Should we customise or adopt the standard process?
Adopt the standard unless the process is genuinely a source of competitive advantage. The test is commercial, not technical: if a customer would not notice or pay for the difference, it is not worth the maintenance cost of a customisation across every future upgrade.
Where to start this quarter
Pick one process area. Instrument decision latency for a fortnight. Bring the distribution to your steering committee instead of a status colour. The conversation changes immediately, because the number is not arguable.
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