ERP programme recovery · Selection · Delivery
Complex ERP transformation, recovered and delivered.
I'm Scott Armstrong, a programme director with 20+ years leading ERP, finance, data and CRM programmes. CIOs and CFOs bring me in when programmes have stalled, slipped or gone live badly. I also help organisations buy ERP properly, so they never need recovering.
- Quadient
- SITA
- Brambles
- Fonterra
- Commonwealth Bank
- NAB
- NZ Health
- Auckland Council
- SKY TV
- Capital One
How I help
Three moments when an experienced programme director changes the outcome.
ERP programme recovery
Stalled ERP and CRM programmes, failing data migrations, broken integrations and go-lives that have gone wrong. I establish the facts, reset the plan and lead the recovery.
ERP programme recovery 02 · ASSUREIndependent assurance
An evidence-based view of where your programme really is, for sponsors and boards who want to know before the status report tells them.
Programme assurance 03 · BUY RIGHTERP selection & procurement
Vendor-agnostic selection across Oracle, SAP, Microsoft and NetSuite, with scope, requirements, data and the SI contract settled before you go to market.
Selection & procurementWarning signs
Most programmes in trouble look fine on paper.
Around 80% of the recoveries I lead trace back to decisions made at the point of purchase. By the time the symptoms show, the programme has usually been reporting green for months.
- Status green, milestones missedThe go-live date hasn't moved, because moving it means admitting the plan was wrong.
- Testing new business onlyNobody has worked out how to move the existing business, its data and its in-flight transactions.
- "It's missing critical functionality"Stakeholders say the system can't do what the demo promised, and there is no requirements trail to check.
- Interfaces failing quietlyPayroll, billing and group reporting no longer match the ledger, and failures are found by customers.
- Workarounds becoming the systemSpreadsheets and extra staff are filling gaps, with no owner and no end date.
Track record
20+ years of high-stakes delivery, from Auckland to London.
A failing €10M global ERP programme recovered and delivered end to end, from requirements to hypercare.
ERP recovery · QuadientERP replacement across 400 entities in 200+ countries, with Oracle Fusion vs SAP S/4HANA selection.
ERP selection · SITAFinance centralised onto SAP Central Finance, enabling the divestment of a global division.
SAP Central Finance · FonterraOn c.£500M a year of medical device spend, after a sector-wide Oracle procurement across 20 health boards.
ERP procurement · NZ HealthAnnual EBIT uplift from re-aligning a £120M-a-year portfolio to the strategy, doubling profit.
Transformation · Commonwealth BankContact centre wait times after a council-wide service transformation for 1M+ residents.
Public sector · Auckland CouncilHow a recovery runs
The first job is never technical.
It's moving a management team from "there is no problem", through "shoot the messenger", to "what do you need?"
Evidence, not opinion
Where the programme should be, where it actually is, and what the gap means in months and money. Opinions get overruled. Evidence has to be answered.
Sponsor first, privately
The sponsor hears the facts before anyone else and fronts the recovery. A sponsor who hears it first can lead. One who hears it in public can only defend.
A range now, a date later
Four to six weeks to assess before re-baselining. Recovery is discovery. Commit in week two and you have built the second failure.
Fix what breaks the business
Cash, customers and compliance first. The right people, proper tooling, and governance that decides in days, not months.
Case studies
Challenge. What I did. Outcome.
Recovering a failing €10M global ERP programme in five months
Read the case studyEstablishing a £50M+, 400-entity ERP replacement and running the Oracle vs SAP selection
Read the case studySAP Central Finance across 40 countries, enabling a major divestment
Read the case studyAdvisory toolkit
What I do inside programmes, packaged for your team to apply.
Data Programme Governance Framework
The governance set I put in place when I lead or recover a data or ERP data migration programme, packaged for your team to apply directly.
Register interest In developmentERP Procurement Strategy Guide
Everything to have in place before you go to market for an ERP and a systems integrator, and how to run the tender so delivery risk sits with the supplier.
Register interest Available nowERP Readiness Session
A focused 60-minute session for leaders preparing a major ERP or data programme: pressure-test your plan, procurement and governance before you commit.
View detailsInsights
Field notes from live programmes.
Five simple steps before you go to market for an ERP
Nearly every ERP recovery has the same root cause: a procurement that never established what was being bought. Five steps to avoid it.
3 November 2026 ERP procurementSo you bought the wrong ERP
When the demo promised everything and the system can't deliver: how to negotiate a resolution and make the vendor carry the cost of overselling.
24 October 2026 Go-live recoveryHow to recover an ERP go-live that's falling apart
Stop working tickets and find where the business is broken. A four-step approach to stabilising a failing ERP launch within weeks.
20 October 2026For consultancies
A senior associate you can put in front of a board.
I work with boutique consultancies and ERP and Salesforce delivery partners as an associate programme director, bringing a consulting posture rather than a contractor-for-hire one.
Associate partnerships →- Strategy to operating model to delivery plan
- Operating model design with McKinsey, EY and Accenture alongside
- Oracle, SAP, Dynamics 365 and Salesforce programme leadership
- Comfortable at CFO, CIO and CPO level from day one
- Published thinking your clients can read before they meet me
Is a programme keeping you up at night?
A short, confidential conversation is usually enough to tell whether it needs recovery, assurance or simply a second opinion.