Here ERP, ERP, ERP

ERP's are the one system I am kind of down about. Every book I've read for school, all hypes them up like they are the greatest thing since sliced bread. They show how they can come up with sales figures, do projections, and this and that. All that sounds just dandy!

However, there is always a difference between book implementations and reality. I have seen this with many different systems, like networks for example. Books will talk about how things are done this way and that way, but when it comes to the real world...it is different. The books almost act like sales people. They tout different items up, but when it comes to implementation time it is hard to get a phone call returned.

So the thing that gets me about ERP's is I have never got to see them actually in action. I'm curious how these work for some of the big organizations like IBM and so on. Going even further, how could it actually help a small business. Maybe one of these years I'll make my way up to a management position, and be afforded the opportunity to see them in action.