Enterprise system and business alignment: The role of an external consultant

Abstract: Enterprise system and business are aligned when enterprise system supports business strategy, goals and requirements. Enterprise systems help the organizations to increase their efficiency, to raise the productivity, quality and competition level. Organizations implementing enterprise systems usually don’t have the required internal resources and knowledge to implement an enterprise system themselves and have to hire external consultants. The purpose of the study was to gain more knowledge about the role of external consultants in aligning enterprise systems with business. We created a framework of enterprise system and business alignment from an external consultant’s perspective. This framework was validated by doing qualitative interviews with experts of enterprise systems. We found that involvement of an external consultant has a significant impact to enterprise system and business alignment. Our empirical findings showed that an external consultant has a crucial role and is a connecting part to achieve an alignment between enterprise systems and business. An external consultant by using his knowledge, personal characteristics and skills helps a customer to gain the maximum benefit from an enterprise system.