The Observation
Seventy percent of enterprise resource planning projects fail to achieve their initial goals. A massive portion of this failure comes down to one overlooked phase: data migration. Organizations routinely import messy, outdated records into their brand new systems.
The Analysis
A new software interface cannot fix broken data. Most leadership teams skip the difficult work of identifying incomplete information before a transition. They drag decades of useless historical garbage into the new environment. This pollutes the new system on day one and instantly destroys reporting accuracy. Data cleanup is tedious and unglamorous. It is also the absolute foundation of a successful digital transition.
The Technical Step
Build a strict migration map. Decide exactly which accounts and historical records are actually necessary to carry over.
Clean the data in the legacy system before moving a single file.
Run parallel tests for months to ensure the new environment accurately reflects your historical results.
Question for the network
When upgrading systems, does your organization aggressively clean its data, or do you just dump old records into the new software?
References
- CLA Digital: 5 Lessons from Failed ERP Implementations
By Michael Lennard Gnaedinger. © 2026 Gnaedinger Consultancy. All rights reserved.
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