Faced with mounting financial pressures, rising taxpayer expectations, and an urgent need to deliver more with less, government organisations across the UK are turning to ERP platforms for much-needed digital transformation. These systems – particularly when cloud based – promise streamlined operations, improved accuracy, and stronger strategic decisions, providing shared access to a single, reliable data source.
Providing real-time insight into finance, procurement, HR and more, ERP platforms enhance transparency, driving unprecedented efficiency across the board. The appeal is clear. Yet, several public-sector stories tell a more cautionary tale.
From Birmingham to Croydon, ERP programmes have failed to deliver the benefits promised – running over time and budget and contributing to severe financial crisis. These failures are rarely about the technology itself, however. Rather, they reflect a deeper flaw: fundamental underestimation of the real cost of change.
Too often, ERP is treated as a mere IT procurement exercise, rather than the complex, organisation-wide transformation it truly is – demanding new ways of working, long-term leadership and deep-seated behavioural change. To deliver value, public bodies must look beyond vendor demos and licensing fees – to fully assess people, processes, data and readiness, as well.
Why traditional ERP procurement is broken
Even with the recent shift from MEAT (Most Economically Advantageous Tender) to MAT (Most Advantageous Tender) under the updated Procurement Act, most public-sector procurement decisions still place too much emphasis on upfront cost. The standard 50:40:10 weighting of quality, price and social value makes price easy to compare, but it’s difficult to evaluate what’s actually being bought.
Failure to see the bigger picture often leads to underestimated internal challenges, from data migration issues to staff fears – each calling for cultural investment on top of direct purchase fees. Vendors overoptimistic timelines further inflate expenditure – leaving change needs and resource strain severely misjudged based on unrealistic estimates that could never be upheld in the real world, where processes, people and organisational challenges inevitably get in the way. Of course, some suppliers aim to tackle this, factoring in more change-management aspects and offering more realistic, sustainable transformation models. These nevertheless tend to be overlooked, with expertise and sustainable change capacities disregarded in favour of low pricing, ultimately delaying projects, eroding trust and generating out-of-hand bills.
People-first transformation
If one lesson stands out, it’s that technology alone doesn’t drive transformation. Even the most advanced ERP will fail without considering the non-platform side of change – particularly the human factor.
Without staff understanding, engagement and buy-in, ERP tools remain underutilised, undermining outcomes and ROI. People are the true catalysts of change – ERP is merely the tool that supports them. This is why transformations are 2.6 times more likely to succeed when teams are placed at the heart of change, according to Oxford Saïd Business School and EY.
Leaders must likewise recognise that every organisation is starting from a different level of maturity and readiness. A council with shared services experience requires a different approach to a local authority running on outdated legacy systems and teams lacking in digital confidence. When procurement ignores this, the public sector pays the price – in unused investments, budget overruns, and failure to meet targets.
A more holistic approach
Shifting from price-led to people-first change may seem challenging initially – but taking the time to find the right partners to support this journey truly pays off. When transformation begins with assessing people and readiness, leaders gain a clearer understanding of what’s really needed – before procurement even starts.
This visibility facilitates smarter, more sustainable decisions that support real public outcomes in turn. Including people in the plan makes it easier to secure the engagement, skills and adaptability needed to make ERP successful in practice, not just on paper. ERP procurement must therefore consider the full transformation journey beyond initial implementation, as well. This includes pre-launch training, cultural insight, behaviour change strategies and investment in ongoing support. This is what it means to understand the real cost of ERP change.
Don’t digitise a broken process
Furthermore, ERP systems are designed to support best-practice operations, not outdated ones. Without assessing readiness and redesigning processes, authorities thus risk simply replicating inefficiency at scale.
Effective programmes transform both systems and processes – aligning with compliance regulations and facilitating shared services across authority models. Without this alignment, ERP simply digitises the status quo – at high cost and negative impact on organisational growth and performance.
Data integration
Another overlooked yet critical consideration is data. ERP success relies on clean, integrated information. However, many projects under-scope this effort. Legacy records are often inconsistent and cleansing and migration require ownership, time and support from reliable experts. Left too late, poor data will derail reporting, audits and trust, undermining new system investments. APIs alone are simply not enough. Effective integration requires process awareness, system knowledge and early planning – especially when connecting to specialist platforms for grants, social care and payroll. Without this, integrations become fragile or fail entirely – again, undermining ERP’s promise.
ERP as the foundation for AI
Finally, ERP decisions must also look forward. With AI rising on the public-sector agenda, organisations need the right foundations in place. AI depends on structured data, secure systems and standardised processes – all of which can be provided by ERP when the correct groundwork has been done. Without these solid foundations, AI risks becoming yet another costly experiment. Conversely, with the right ERP and change management support in place, public bodies lay the foundation for sustainable digital growth and future innovation.
Leadership – not licensing
As local government continues to evolve through devolution, shared services and structural reform, ERP must adapt across entities, processes and governance models seamlessly. This flexibility doesn’t come from tech alone; it comes from the approach. ERP failure is not usually about software. It’s about poor leadership, weak planning and choosing the wrong partners. Organisations must work with delivery teams that understand sector complexity, prioritise adoption and design for long-term outcomes. Short-term cost savings must never be allowed to undermine sustainable, real-world potential and success.
The cost of getting it wrong
Ultimately, ERP isn’t about generic capabilities but real-world outcomes. To achieve these, leaders must ask better questions: Are our people ready? Will this system serve our future governance model? And how will we measure impact? Full consideration of the total cost of change is required if public bodies are to deliver true resilience, reform and readiness for new technologies through ERP. Choosing the right partner means selecting a team that understands complexity, challenging constructively whilst leading with empathy and expertise. Most importantly of all, this partner will recognise that successful digital transformation must always put people, processes and long-term outcomes first.
Read the full White Paper here for deeper insights into why ERP success depends on more than just technology.