Abstract:

Since the development of the Strategic Alignment model (SAM) by Henderson and Venkatraman, the IT-business alignment emerged as an important issue when evaluating the IT projects success and involved several studies showing the necessity of such alignment. When talking about enterprise systems, mainly the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), alignment was shown as a critical factor for ERP projects success. The development of cloud computing and the difficulties linked to on-premise solutions implementation are pushing many firms to switch toward cloud-based ERP. However, existing studies on such systems adoption focus basically on benefits and risks issues. Thus, this paper aims to explore the alignment concern when switching toward cloud ERP. Through a literature review, the author first presents the alignment concerns during IT implementation and the factors that could help to achieve alignment. Then, by reviewing the existing studies on cloud ERP in terms of benefits and risks, the alignment concerns linked to such solutions are identified. From this literature review and then a case study conducted within a Tunisian firm, it is showed that cloud ERP alignment is a challenging issue that should involve adaptations (technical dimension) and social practices (social dimension) to be achieved.