What were the main causes of the difficulties with the project at Aux Bons Soins?

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3 pages

Andrew McAfee discusses an array of revolutionary technologies that are replacing routine jobs with machines that can speak, understand, translate, and hear. McAfee believes that this kind of innovation will lead to creating new jobs that involve more than enhancing creativity. He refers to this cycle of innovation as “The New Machine Age.” Think in terms how technology-driven changes could impact the ERP implementation for Aux Bons Soins’ case study below.

TED Ideas Worth Spreading. (2012, September). Andrew McAfee: Are droids taking our jobs? Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_mcafee_are_droids_taking_our_jobs.html

For the last assignment, we will be introducing a new case, the real-world story of an ERP implementation for Aux Bons Soins. This case details the rather frustrating experiences that the company encountered in trying to implement an integrated management system after an acquisition and merger, and the range of circumstances that affected the process. Not every implementation is this sticky, but in varying ways most partake of greater or lesser parts of this experience. Please note that there is nothing particularly pathological about the experience described here, despite the frustrations experienced. There are no great villains, but neither are there any great heroes; implementation seldom turns up either. This may seem a rather inconclusive note on which to conclude both this course and your IT management program, but it is how things are. For better or worse, this is what real IT management is all about—the good, the bad, the ugly, and above all the reasonably acceptable. Over the next decades, the profession is likely to evolve far beyond any ways that can be reasonably forecast today; after all, 20 years ago there was not any such thing as the Internet, and today’s information environment was ranked science fiction. You are entering the profession at a most exciting and dynamic time; always remember how much you do not know, but also remember that you do know how to learn.

Please read the following parts of the case:

Bernier, C., Roy, V., & Brunelle, E. (2006) An ERP Story: Background (A). International Journal of Case Studies in Management. 4(1):March.

Bernier, C., Roy, V., & Brunelle, E. (2006) An ERP Story: Troubles Ahead (C). International Journal of Case Studies in Management. 4(1):March.

Bernier, C., Roy, V., & Brunelle, E. (2006) An ERP Story: Epilogue (D). International Journal of Case Studies in Management. 4(1):March.

Use information from the course background readings as well as any good quality resource you can find. Please cite all sources and provide a reference list (use APA format) at the end of your paper.

Your answer to the following will be assessed:

1. What were the main causes of the difficulties with the project at Aux Bons Soins?

2. What were the key elements that led to the success of the project at Aux Bons Soins?