Implementation team project manager turnover often delays ERP projects because it disrupts the continuity and momentum essential to navigating complex, multi-phase deployments.
A project manager serves as the linchpin, orchestrating tasks, aligning stakeholders, and maintaining a cohesive vision across vendors, consultants, and client teams. When turnover occurs, critical knowledge about the project’s history, decisions, and unresolved issues walks out the door, forcing successors to restart or relearn key elements.
This handoff inevitably slows progress as new managers scramble to rebuild relationships, reassess timelines, and address gaps left by their predecessors.
For example, a mid-implementation switch might delay testing or go-live phases, as the incoming manager lacks the context to quickly resolve lingering technical or logistical challenges, pushing deadlines further out and inflating costs.
Beyond delays, frequent project manager turnover erodes the client’s confidence in the implementation partner, signaling instability and a lack of commitment to the project’s success.
Clients invest heavily in ERP systems with the expectation of a reliable, steady hand guiding the process, and each departure raises doubts about the partner’s ability to deliver.
A new manager’s learning curve often translates to inconsistent communication or shifting priorities, leaving clients frustrated by a lack of accountability or clear direction. Worse, repeated turnover can hint at deeper organizational issues within the implementation firm—poor resource management, internal conflicts, or inadequate support—further undermining trust.
As confidence wanes, clients may question the partner’s competence, hesitate to approve critical decisions, or even consider terminating the relationship, amplifying the project’s risk of failure.