To add to the complexity, the software world today is undergoing a
significant transformation, with many vendors adapting the popular
Web-enabled Application Service Provider (ASP) model. ASPs lease
software to organizations via the Web. Although some will try to apply
this model to ERP implementations, it may well serve to add additional
complexity and remove much of the critical business process planning
that can make or break the implementation. In addition, it will likely
encourage "square-pegs-in-round-holes" ERP implementations, in
which organizations spend significant dollars to buy a technology —
and are then forced to squeeze their business processes to fit the mold
of the purchased technology. There may be opportunities to marry ERP
with the Web through front-end technologies, giving users access to the
system through browser-based alternatives to the traditional clientserver
paradigm. Whatever model they choose to roll out, an
organization's success will depend on redesigning the process and
customizing the technology to fit that process — rather than the other
way around.