Enterprise system transformations such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), and human capital management (HCM) are among the most complex investments organizations make, yet over half exceed budgets, miss timelines, or fall short of expected value. Gartner[1] finds that 75% of ERP strategies lack strong alignment with overall business strategy and predicts that over 70% of implementations will fail to meet their goals by 2027 as a result. In most cases, the root cause is not technology, it is the decisions made — or deferred — before a single requirement was documented.
Success or failure is largely determined before execution begins, during Phase 0, when strategy, readiness, and key decisions on scope, resources, and priorities are defined. When this phase is rushed or bypassed, it drives much of the rework, delay, and cost escalation seen in troubled transformations.
Phase 0: Where Outcomes Are Determined Before Execution Begins
Phase 0 is the most critical stage of a transformation, setting the foundation for value realization or structural friction. Ankura structures it into three sequenced stages: solution strategy, planning and mobilization, and evaluation and selection. Each builds on the last, and gaps early create downstream risk that is costly to resolve.
When executed with discipline, Phase 0 creates clarity and momentum. When rushed, it introduces risks that are difficult to unwind later.
Getting the Enterprise System Strategy Right
A strong enterprise system strategy does not begin with technology. It begins with the business strategy and the capabilities required to support it. Leadership teams must align on a set of foundational questions before moving forward.
- How do our business strategy and operating model need to evolve?
- Where should we standardize and where is differentiation truly required?
- What risks do we have and what are emerging risks that require consideration?
- How will success be defined for this transformation and what tradeoffs may be required to achieve success?
- Do we have the organizational capacity, leadership bandwidth, and change readiness to sustain a multi-year transformation without compromising day-to-day operational performance?
When these questions are not addressed, decisions default to legacy constraints and vendor norms, resulting in systems that work technically but do not support the business. A clear strategy sets guiding principles for selection, governance, and execution and ensures alignment from intent through delivery.
Planning and Mobilization: Designing the Conditions for Execution Success
Enterprise transformations surface existing weaknesses quickly, including unclear decision rights, competing priorities, and misaligned incentives. Planning and mobilization is often treated as operational, but in successful programs it is executed as a strategic blueprint. This phase is where organizations put structure around execution by:
- Establish governance: Define roles, decision criteria, and escalation paths that evolve with the program.
- Design change management: Ground approach in real stakeholder readiness and organizational capacity.
- Build integrated plans: Balance transformation work with ongoing operations.
- Assess current landscape: Identify key system, data, and process dependencies shaping design decisions.
- Define operating model changes: Clarify required changes to improve performance and support the new platform.
Organizations that underinvest here often find themselves reacting rather than leading once design and configuration begins. Strong planning and mobilization do not guarantee success, but a lack of planning and mobilization almost guarantees scope creep, slow decisions, a lack of clarity, and can result in an erosion of trust.
Evaluation and Selection: A Strategic Decision, Not a Procurement Exercise
Enterprise system evaluation and selection is frequently compressed by timelines or vendor momentum. Yet this phase locks in decisions that are extremely costly to reverse once implementation starts. High‑performing organizations take a fundamentally different approach. Rather than evaluating systems in isolation, they:
- Define future-state processes: Clarify critical capabilities and resolve key legacy pain points.
- Apply prior learnings: Use lessons from past successes and failures to guide decisions.
- Anchor on outcomes: Focus requirements on business outcomes validated through real scenarios.
- Select the right partners: Choose based on capability and cultural fit to support execution.
- Refine the business case: Continuously update with insights and risk-based contingencies.
This rigor shifts selection from a procurement exercise to a strategy‑enabling approach that sets realistic expectations and creates alignment before execution pressure emerges.
The Reality: Phase 0 Is Not Optional
Organizations often believe they are saving time by accelerating through Phase 0, skipping steps along the way. In practice, this results in issues surfacing later when they are more challenging to resolve and result in delays and cost overruns.
Phase 0 is where enterprise system transformations either become intentional business enablement efforts or costly technology programs. The most successful organizations ensure the following components are delivered in Phase 0.
- Clear, aligned transformation vision: Leadership has defined how the system supports strategy, growth, and the operating model.
- Defined success criteria and guiding principles: Alignment on what success looks like, including priorities, tradeoffs, and value measures.
- Established governance and decision rights: Roles, ownership, and escalation paths are clear before execution begins.
- Integrated business and technology plan: A unified roadmap balances transformation work with operational capacity.
- Clear view of current state complexity: Key system, data, and process dependencies are understood and incorporated into planning.
- Defined future-state operating model: The business is clear on how it will operate, not just what system it will implement.
- Disciplined evaluation and selection: Solutions and partners are chosen based on outcomes, real use cases, and fit.
- Change readiness and stakeholder alignment: Leadership understands capacity constraints and has a practical plan to drive adoption.
Ankura’s Role: Independent Expertise at the Most Critical Juncture
At Ankura, we focus on Phase 0 to drive clarity on outcomes and how enterprise systems support them. We work across business leaders, system integrators, and technology providers to ensure alignment, accountability, and momentum.
We enable internal teams to succeed by maintaining a tight link from strategy to execution and putting the right structures in place for lasting value.
For organizations preparing for a transformation, or already feeling the impact of an underdeveloped Phase 0, we bring the structure, independence, and expertise to reset and move forward with confidence.
References
[1] Gartner. ERP Research Report. Gartner Enterprise Architecture. Available at: https://emt.gartnerweb.com/ngw/globalassets/en/enterprise-architecture/ea-reskin-for-erp-research.pdf
© Copyright 2026. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and not necessarily the views of Ankura Consulting Group, LLC, its management, its subsidiaries, its affiliates, or its other professionals. Ankura is not a law firm and cannot provide legal advice.
