I cannot believe Overstock was not mentioned
As they came THIS close to going under (they needed to Get Smart)
For large companies, ERP systems are ALWAYS going to be a failure. Common cloud apps from vendors will ALWAYS be a failure.
ALL systems should be developed in-house. WHY? The BIGGEST reason not mentioned is this:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> IT is to be used for a STRATEGIC advantage <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
If EVERYONE used the same crappy ERP or cloud Application, even with customization, it does NOT give you the flexibility to run your business to succeed where others have failed. Without innovation, all other things being equal, you will be forced to compete on price, which drives margins super thin, and ANY shock to the system can put a company under quite easily.
With the exception of PAYROLL, and to extent basic accounting packages (which will still need to be fed with advanced systems), IT should give a competitive and strategic advantage and not follow others.
Let us take a few industries for example:
1) Reinsurance - insurance for insurance companies. Yes, you could go with packages built for Reinsurance, but they are VERY inflexible, and you can no longer write innovative policies without a custom system.
2) Finance - there are so many areas that custom finance will give a superior advantage in many forms of financial products.
3) Online Giants - Amazon - E-Bay - Google - all use proprietary systems and look at their success rate.
I could go on and on with the titans of industry that developed their own strategic applications in-house but it would be pages long. Maybe if you used Oracle Financials, SAP, etc for BASIC accounting GL functions it would work - but at what cost? It still is cheaper to build in-house (and not out source).