Why We Finish SAP CX Projects When Others Don't

A surprising number of SAP CX projects never go live. Fifty per cent of ERP implementations fail on their first attempt (Panorama Consulting, 2025). Others limp into production so late and over-budget that nobody calls it a success.

We’ve delivered SAP Sales Cloud V2, Service Cloud V2, and Commerce Cloud projects for manufacturers, retailers, and distributors across Europe. Every single one went live. Not eventually. On the date we committed to.

That’s not a sales pitch. It’s a track record we protect fiercely — because the moment we fail to deliver, our reputation is gone. We’re not a 5,000-person firm that can absorb a failed project.

Here’s what we do differently.

TL;DR: Fifty per cent of ERP implementations fail on their first attempt (Panorama Consulting, 2025). Spadoom has a 100% go-live record across all SAP CX projects — Sales Cloud V2, Service Cloud V2, and Commerce Cloud. The difference: senior consultants from day one, fixed scope with detailed deliverables, iterative delivery with SAP Activate, honest scoping, and saying no to projects we can’t deliver.

Why Do Senior Consultants Matter From Day One?

Organisations that engage experienced consultants report an 85% success rate in ERP implementations (Panorama Consulting, 2025). Experience is the single biggest predictor of project success.

When a large consulting firm wins an SAP CX deal, the team that sold it is rarely the team that delivers it. The sales team had 20 years of experience. The delivery team has 20 months.

We don’t have a sales team and a delivery team. The people who scope your project are the people who build it. Every consultant has delivered multiple SAP V2 implementations. They know where configuration ends and custom development begins.

When we delivered SAP Sales Cloud V2 for Franke in 90 days, the same architect who ran the scoping workshop was configuring the system on day one. No handoff. No ramp-up period.

Why Does Saying No Matter?

This might be the most important thing we do. We say no to projects we can’t deliver.

If a prospect wants to implement Sales Cloud V2, Service Cloud V2, Commerce Cloud, Emarsys, and CDP in a single 6-month project with a team of four, we tell them it’s not realistic. If a company wants to replicate their 15-year-old on-prem CRM feature-for-feature in a cloud system, we explain why that’s the wrong approach.

Some partners say yes to everything because the contract value is too attractive. Then reality hits at month 3.

We’d rather lose a deal than damage our go-live record.

What Does Fixed Scope Actually Look Like?

Only 48% of digital initiatives meet or exceed their targets (Gartner, 2024). Scope clarity is the biggest differentiator between the 48% that succeed and the 52% that don’t.

Every project has a fixed scope document. Not a high-level overview — a detailed list of deliverables with acceptance criteria.

“Configure opportunity management with 4 custom stages, weighted pipeline, and automated notifications” is a deliverable. “Set up CRM” is not.

This protects both sides. When someone asks for something outside scope, we don’t say no — we say “yes, here’s what it costs and how it affects the timeline.”

Nussbaum’s SAP Sales Cloud V2 implementation took 5 months. Not because we rushed — because the scope was clear from week one.

How Does Iterative Delivery Prevent Failure?

More than two-thirds of large-scale tech programmes miss time, budget, or scope targets (BCG, 2024). Most use waterfall planning. We don’t.

We follow SAP Activate methodology:

• Week 1-2: Discover phase — validate requirements, confirm integrations, set up the development environment.
• Week 3-4: First sprint — users see a working system with core functionality.
• Every 2 weeks: Demo session with key users. They test. They give feedback. We adjust.
• Final 2-3 weeks: Integration testing, data migration validation, UAT, go-live preparation.

The critical difference: problems surface in week 4, not month 6.

What Have We Learned From Inherited Projects?

Some of our best lessons came from projects we didn’t start. We’ve been called in to rescue SAP CX implementations that stalled with other partners. The patterns are consistent:

• Vague scope that grew by 50% with no budget adjustment.
• Junior teams who built custom code where standard configuration would have worked.
• No integration testing until the final weeks.
• No user involvement until UAT, when the sales team rejected the system.
• Big-bang go-live with no fallback plan.

Every one is preventable. Not with better technology — with better project discipline.

FAQ

What does “100% go-live record” actually mean?

Every SAP CX project Spadoom has delivered has gone live on or before the committed date. We verify this through client references. The record stays at 100% because we’re selective about what we take on and honest about what’s realistic.

How do you keep the record if a client keeps changing requirements?

Fixed scope with a transparent change request process. Changes are priced separately and approved before work starts. If changes would compromise the go-live date, we flag it early and adjust the timeline or scope — never silently.

What’s the smallest SAP CX project you’d take on?

We typically work on projects worth CHF 50K+ — enough for a meaningful scope with senior consultants. Below that threshold, configuration-only work might be better handled by the client’s internal team with our advisory support.

Do you work outside Europe?

Our focus is DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) and Southern Europe (Italy). We’ve supported global rollouts for European-headquartered companies but we don’t staff projects in regions where we can’t guarantee senior local presence.

How do I verify your track record?

Ask us for references. We’ll connect you with project sponsors at Franke, Nussbaum, ANWR Group, and others. You can ask them directly: Did the project go live on time? Did the budget hold? Would you work with Spadoom again?