Bad Data, the Silent ERP Killer

If I had to point to one factor that has derailed more ERP projects than anything else in my 30-year career, it wouldn’t be poor software, inexperienced consultants, or lack of executive buy-in. It’s data. More specifically, bad data quality.

For small and midsized businesses (SMBs), where resources are limited and margins are tight, overlooking data quality in ERP migrations can be devastating. ERP systems promise improved efficiency, enhanced insights, and greater scalability. But if you bring dirty data into a new ERP, you’re simply upgrading your problems—not solving them.

Let me walk you through why insufficient data is the silent killer of ERP projects, especially in the SMB space, and how you can protect your business from making the same costly mistake.

I’ll discuss:

• The Impact of Bad Data on ERP Migrations
• Real SMB ERP Failures: When Bad Data Strikes
• Why Poor Data Quality Hurts More in SMB ERP Projects
• What Clean ERP Data Looks Like Before Migration
• Your ERP Success Starts with Clean Data

The Impact of Bad Data on ERP Migrations

Most SMBs run lean. Data is scattered across spreadsheets, legacy systems, Dropbox folders, and sometimes even handwritten notes. There’s often no dedicated data steward or governance structure. And because the business has been operating in this manner for years, leaders assume the data must be "good enough."

The Dangerous Illusion of "Good Enough" Data

This assumption is dangerous. Here's what I see happening time and time again:

• Duplicate customers, vendors, and items inflate lists and reporting.
• BOMs (Bills of Materials) are incomplete or inconsistently structured.
• Historical financials don’t reconcile.
• Contact information is outdated or missing key fields.
• Product SKUs are mismatched across systems.

Then, the ERP system goes live. And nothing works the way it should.

Real SMB ERP Failures: When Bad Data Strikes

Let me share a few real-world examples from the SMB trenches. I have not disclosed the names of these organizations. No one is served by rubbing salt into old wounds.

1. The Manufacturer with Incomplete BOMs

A midwestern manufacturing company moved to Acumatica but didn't audit or standardize their BOMs and routings. Post-go-live, production orders failed. Their production schedule had to be reverted to Excel, and customer orders were delayed for weeks.

2. The Distributor with Dirty Pricing Data

A wholesale food service distributor implemented NetSuite. Their legacy pricing structures were inconsistent, and customer data contained numerous duplicates. After the system went live, invoices were incorrect, credit memos increased, and the sales team lost confidence in the new system.

3. The Retailer with Unstructured Product Data

A small e-commerce retailer brought over product data from Shopify, Amazon, and spreadsheets. Their Odoo ERP went live with broken images, inconsistent SKUs, and missing product categories. The result? Confused customers, a spike in returns, and chaos in the warehouse.

Why Poor Data Quality Hurts More in SMB ERP Projects

(Supported by findings in industry reports such as Gartner's Data Quality Market Guide)

In large enterprises, you may have a dedicated data team to handle these issues after the go-live. In SMBs? Not so much. Every error hits harder:

• Customer trust suffers when invoices or shipments are wrong.
• Teams revert to manual workarounds, undermining your entire investment.
• Leadership questions the ROI of the ERP project.

The scariest part? These failures aren’t immediate. They creep in slowly, undermining confidence, breaking processes, and creating a firefighting culture that drains momentum and morale.

What Clean ERP Data Looks Like Before Migration

(Adapted from best practices shared in Informatica's “What is Data Quality”)

Here’s the baseline I recommend to every SMB before ERP data migration:

Infographic: The Impact of Bad Data on ERP Migrations

Based on infographic and research from Data Ladder

Your ERP Success Starts with Clean Data

(Backed by insights from the Experian Global Data Management Report)

If you’re planning or amid an ERP migration, my advice is simple: treat data as a core workstream, not a back-office task.

Here’s how to get started:

• Audit your data sources wholly and early.
• Deduplicate, standardize, and validate core records.
• Test migrations multiple times before go-live.
• Assign data owners for each primary domain.
• Don’t cut corners on historical financials — they matter.

As someone who’s lived through hundreds of ERP projects, I can tell you this: no matter how good your software or your implementation partner is, insufficient data will kill your project quietly and from the inside.

Clean data isn’t just IT’s job. It’s everyone’s job. And it might just be the most important thing you do to ensure your ERP migration delivers the results you’re hoping for.

Our team at Stellar One has decades of experience helping businesses like yours with a wide variety of ERP platforms. We are an Acumatica Gold Certified Partner, which means we have the highest levels of expertise in the industry. But we won’t try to sell you an ERP system that’s not a fit.

Want to hear more about what we can do as your ERP Partner? Read about our successful partnership with Modloft.