Most ERP programmes overrun because the sponsor side is under-represented in the room. The vendor and the system integrator are well-staffed; the client team is busy running the business. We sit on the sponsor side throughout — vendor-neutral, focused on outcomes, accountable to the board.
When clients come to us
When a CFO is preparing for an ERP selection and wants an outside view before the vendor demos start. When an implementation is running late and the sponsor needs an honest read on why. When a group is consolidating onto a single platform after acquisition. Often when the previous implementation produced a working system that did not actually change the way the business is run.
How we work
A senior advisor sits with the CFO and operating leaders to define the operating outcomes the system must produce — close calendar, reporting standard, control framework, intercompany discipline — and then runs the selection or oversight against those outcomes. We are independent of all major vendors and integrators. The recommendation follows the business, not the licence.
What we deliver
- Operating-outcome definition for the systems programme
- Independent vendor and integrator selection
- Implementation plan and governance design
- Sponsor-side oversight through build and cutover
- Data migration and reconciliation discipline
- Go-live readiness and post-go-live review
Typical engagement
ERP selection runs three to six months. Implementation oversight runs nine to twenty-four months alongside the integrator. On our side, a senior advisor anchors with a systems specialist. On the client side, the CFO is the principal counterpart, with the IT lead and operating leaders involved at design and cutover points.
Why CGLA
We are not a system integrator and we do not earn vendor fees. The recommendation is structurally clean. The senior advisor on the engagement has run finance functions through ERP cutover, which means the operating reality is read from inside, not from a methodology document.
