Factors that influence the quality of vendor support service in enterprise resource planning implementation and use

The competitive nature of global markets has made it essential for many organisations to implement enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications. Adopting ERP applications is a lifelong commitment for organisations. Several researchers that have investigated the success and failure of ERP projects have identified ERP vendors as critical people (CP) and vendor support as one of the most important factors for ERP success. However, most ERP studies have focused more on ERP customers’ perspectives and less on ERP vendors’ perspectives. As such, there is no systematic research on the features of ERP vendor support service and the factors that influence the quality of this service. This study specifically presents the vendor’s perspective. In this study, the vendor support service (VSS) and the factors that positively or negatively influence the vendor support service quality (VSSQ) were investigated. Literature was reviewed on the vendor–host relationship in ERP projects, and information systems outsourcing. Drawing from the “Process Theory” approach and the “Vendor Value Proposition” framework, an initial conceptual framework was developed to guide the case study. A qualitative research methodology with a single case study was used. The company investigated in the case study is one of the largest international ERP vendors. Data was collected from the Australian support centre of the vendor using a number of methods: semi-structured interviews; observation; diary; and archival records. Thematic codes were generated using the conceptual framework and template analysis were used to analyse the data. The findings show that the most common support services that an ERP vendor provides are maintenance, critical repair packs, technical/functional updates, upgrade and enhancements packs, knowledge sharing, and assistance with various types of technical/functional service requests. ERP vendors measure the quality of their support service at both the process and outcome level. The process level covers the timeliness of the service, the effectiveness of the solution and the content quality delivered during the service. The outcome level captures customer feedback and satisfaction with the service. The findings also show that the severity and priority of a service request, the knowledge of the vendor support engineers and the service level of the customer are critical enablers of VSSQ. The vendor knowledgebase and knowledge sharing, the customer’s technical competency, the relationship governance between vendor and customer and the life cycle of the ERP implementation are essential enablers of VSSQ. The vendor support governance, the customer vendor governance and product governance are identified as having a hygienic influence on VSSQ. Finally, the complexity of customer issues is an inhibitor of VSSQ. Based on the findings, the initial conceptual framework was revised, and a new and integrated theoretical framework for VSSQ and a set of propositions were developed. The study bridges the gap in the existing ERP literature by including the vendor perspective. The new VSSQ framework and propositions can be used to guide future studies. ERP vendors and clients can benefit from the results of the study in identifying and managing factors that affect support quality