Earning expected benefits of ERP for insurance organizations in Sri Lanka : implementation perspective

Abstract

During the study of the research gap it was found that there are many complain in sustainability of benefits in insurance ERP implementation projects. These complain are due to not meeting expected benefits from the implementations or declining the initially acquired benefits. There is very little study done in this area and in fact, any study in Sri Lankan context could not be found. Consequently this research has three main aims. First is to identify important factors that influence gaining sustainable value from ERP implementations in insurance organizations. The second is to identify the degree of criticality ofsuch factors for post implementation success and value addition. The third and the final is to formulate a framework or guidance with such factors to facilitate ERP implementations for insurance organizations in Sri Lanka The study was based on the data collected from insurance professionals in Sri Lankan insurance industry representing various capacities. There were 24 semi-structured interviews conducted. The analysis of findings was formed into 32 arguments and a questionnaire was submitted to same respondents and few additional professionals to identify the criticality of derived factors. In addition the information from two real life projects concluded recently was included. The final results were further analyzed with previous literature and developed a guidance using 20 important factors to consider in depth in order to get sustainable benefits from the insurance ERP implementation projects. The outcome of this thesis has achieved a guidance to acquire sustainable benefits from insurance ERP implementations, which in also reflect to facilitate as a mitigation plan for insurance ERP project implementation risks. This would be an interesting information for prospective project managers those who expect to implement other insurance information systems too.