# Dr James A Robertson

Dr James A Robertson develops ERP remediation methods, books and tools. Robertson's work focuses on diagnosing why ERP projects underdeliver, redesigning financial and business information structures, and helping executives decide whether to remediate, reimplement or replace an ERP system.

- Profile: https://b2binfluencer.marketing/creators/james-a-robertson/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drjamesarobertson
- Based on 16 dated posts, latest 2026-10-08

## Summary

Dr James A Robertson is most useful for diagnosing underperforming ERP and deciding whether to remediate, reimplement or replace.

- Best for: A mid-market manufacturer weighing ERP remediation or replacement and a Chart of Accounts redesign.
- Not for: A consumer fintech app or B2C software launch seeking broad LinkedIn creator campaign.
- Check first: Ask for supporting evidence for reported client results and audience demographics.

### Takeaways

- Most ERP failures are not software failures; diagnose before replacing.
- Executive Custody is decisive; most causes of failure are human.
- The 1,000-hour Chart of Accounts project makes the case for structural investment.

## Main ideas

- **Most ERP failures are not software failures: diagnose before you replace**: The recurring argument is that around 70% of ERP implementations fail to deliver the promised value, and the industry keeps solving the wrong problem: the software is almost never at fault. The cause, they argue, is a lack of engineering discipline and clear ownership of the investment. Start with a diagnosis — establish what is actually wrong before replacing software that may be capable — then decide, on the evidence, whether to remediate, reimplement or replace. They set this out as an eight-stage sequence called the ERP Accelerator.
- **Engineer the information structure: Precision ERP Configuration and the Cubic Business Model**: Their technical core is that the highest-leverage work in an ERP programme is redesigning how business information is defined and coded. They call the approach Strategic Engineered Precision Taxonomy: define information content so it is structurally meaningful to people who understand the business, then translate that understanding into coded hierarchies a computer can work with. Any apparent intelligence in the result, they note, comes from the quality of the thinking engineered into the structure. The technical centrepiece is the Cubic Business Model, which produces a group-wide Chart of Accounts.
- **Executive Custody is decisive; most causes of failure are human**: They argue that the CEO is the ultimate customer of an ERP investment and must own the integrated enterprise view. Executive Custody is decisive: they cite a 25% weighting toward successful outcomes and say success is highly unlikely without it, regardless of what else goes right. They also argue that most causes of failure are human rather than technical, making the psychology of implementation as important as the engineering.
- **The 1,000-hour Chart of Accounts project makes the case for structural investment**: Their most concrete example is roughly 1,000 hours of research and development on a Chart of Accounts design. The hours, they stress, were not spent creating account codes; they were needed to discover the logical rules behind a Cubic Business Model that supports financial control, reporting and governance, and to make that knowledge reusable. In a follow-up post, they answer criticism that 1,000 hours sounded excessive by distinguishing the work from creating a single chart of accounts: it was about building a repeatable engineering discipline.
- **The diagnosis has not dated: technology ranks lowest**: They trace their thinking to a book first published in 2004, written from twenty years of hands-on project experience and analysing why major information technology and ERP investments succeed or fail. The book not only names critical factors but weights them, with technology consistently coming out smallest. They argue the diagnosis has not dated: the industry has spent more than twenty years demonstrating how persistent these structural causes of underperformance are.
- **A tiered book series for readers with different time and depth needs**: Their public work is organised by reader and available time. The series offers a short introduction, an executive-level condensation, a practitioner handbook and a complete methodology, so an executive considering remediation can start with a low-commitment entry point and go deeper if the argument holds up.

## Work to read

- [The 1,000-hour Chart of Accounts project and the Cubic Business Model](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/drjamesarobertson_ceo-cfo-cio-activity-7507850329485500416-U0XU)
- [The ERP Taxonomy Handbook and the SEPT approach](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/drjamesarobertson_ceo-cfo-cio-activity-7506705036547190787-wN_P)
- [The Synopsis as a short entry point into the ERP book series](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/drjamesarobertson_ceo-cfo-cio-activity-7513224717890416641-R6Qb)
- [Critical Factors: the 2004 diagnostic foundation and its weightings](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/drjamesarobertson_ceo-cfo-cio-activity-7508882115648839680-RU9e)
- [The Executive Summary and the eight-stage ERP Accelerator](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/drjamesarobertson_ceo-cfo-cio-activity-7510389537324445697-ft5B)

## Brand relationships

- **Amazon** (mention)
- **GL Builder** (disclosed_partnership)
- **Claude AI** (mention)

## Partnerships

Robertson’s five posts in this section promote their own products and services—the ERP books, a free 90-minute briefing, a four-day course and downloadable PDFs—and link to those, not to a creator or brand partnership programme. No partnership formats, requirements, rates or disclosure terms are published. The posts don’t rule out sponsorships or commercial partnerships, but brands would need to raise the possibility directly. Buyers seeking to reach the ERP-remediation audience Robertson writes for should note that the visible engagement routes are their own briefing and course, which are paid products with separate terms, not partnership inventory.

## Alternatives

- Owen Finch: Choose Finch over Robertson only if the manufacturer's immediate blocker is physical fulfillment of bulky goods, not ERP or financial reporting. Finch explains the parcel-versus-LTL decision for large bike boxes: additional handling starts around 10,368 cubic inches, oversize takes over past 17,280 cubic inches, and negotiated parcel and freight rates can push the break-even point well above published rates. Finch also argues that a 3PL should turn down poor-fit clients to focus on the accounts it serves. This is useful when deciding which 3PL to use and whether a shipment should go parcel or LTL.
- Bill Staikos: Choose Staikos over Robertson only if the manufacturer's real problem is turning customer signals into operational fixes after the ERP is running. Staikos describes a credit-card application that goes wrong across fulfillment, contact center and digital teams: the CX team captures and codes the complaint, but no one owns the full customer problem. Staikos proposes testing whether the company can name who owns the fix, what it is worth, which customer behavior changes, which internal process or incentive caused the problem, and how success will be proved. A later post lays out a signal-system kit for ownership, classification, quality and decision traceability, plus a voice-AI vendor shortlist.
- Don “eCommerce” Brett: Choose Brett over Robertson only if the manufacturer's priority is ecommerce and retail channel growth rather than ERP remediation. Brett compares retail and digital growth across public U.S. retailers and examines Amazon's grocery expansion. One post reports Q1 2026 data across 52 retailers: median comparable sales growth of +2.9% against median digital growth of +12.5%, with Walmart at +2.6% comparable and +24% digital. Brett recommends separating retailer growth from digital growth and investing where growth is. Another post cites NielsenIQ data on Amazon perishables and argues that grocery makes Amazon a more frequent part of the consumer's life. This is useful for a manufacturer deciding how to allocate retail media, marketplace and ecommerce investment.

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AI-assisted summary of public posts. Audience demographics are not available. Engagement appears only where we checked recent posts. Method: https://b2binfluencer.marketing/methodology/