The Influence of vendor support on enterprise resource planning success in manufacturing companies in Nairobi County

Abstract

ERP software has brought many benefits to Kenyan organizations although implementing these systems is very challenging. There are many factors that come into play in the course of ERP implementation and one of these factors is ERP vendor support which is the role that the ERP seller plays in the implementation of ERP in the organization. The main objective of this study was to establish the influence of vendor support on successful ERP implementation in the Kenyan manufacturing industry. The specific objectives were to find out the influence of vendor training, project management and post implementation support on successful ERP implementation and lastly to establish factors that influence successful ERP implementation. The study adopted a cross-sectional descriptive study and a correlational analysis. To collect data,structured questionnaires were used with the data being analyzed for descriptive statistics. A regression analysis was also done to establish the relationship between the variables and successful ERP implementation. The findings indicated that of the three vendor support variables, only two variables; vendor training and post implementation influenced successful ERP implementation positively and significantly. Vendor training also had a higher correlation with successful ERP implementation albeit to a moderate extent. Vendor project management was found to be insignificant in explaining successful ERP implementation. The study recommends organizations implementing ERP to pay more attention to vendor training and ensure that it is done thoroughly to give the users control over it. Post implementation support will also ensure that the software is running efficiently and that upgrades are made in a timely manner. Once these two factors are taken into consideration, the organization will be able to reap the full benefits of the software in the long run. Though vendor project management was found to be insignificant in influencing successful ERP implementation, organizations implementing ERP should always insist that the vendor should strive to deliver the project within the project timelines and scope. Future studies can replicate the findings in other industries and also have multiple respondents to capture more views about ERP vendor support.