The Silent Killer: How ERP System Murdered a Chocolate Empire in One Night!
🎃 Crime File: Case Number 1999
⚡ Initial Crime Report
- $500 million vanished in one night
- 19% profit collapse
- 8% stock crash
- Thousands of children as collateral victims
Chapter One: The Empire Before the Fall
Hershey: Chocolate Empire Doomed to Die
In 1894, Milton Hershey built an empire from nothing in Pennsylvania. The dream was simple: delicious chocolate for everyone.
After 100 years, Hershey became a massive commercial monster:
- Products dominating the world: Hershey's Kisses, Reese's, Kit Kat, Jolly Rancher
- Billions in annual sales
- Factories and warehouses on every continent
- Thousands of employees under its command
But in the mid-90s, the silent killer was planning the fatal blow...
Beginning of the Conspiracy: The Old System Dies
In 1996, Hershey was growing at a terrifying pace. Buying companies, opening markets, products multiplying.
But their old system (built internally over years) began to die:
- Slow as a turtle in processing orders
- Completely blind to real inventory
- Each department working in a separate world
- Reports taking days like messages by carrier pigeon
💡 The Fatal Decision
- SAP R/3 - The cutting sword for resource management
- Manugistics - The spider web for supply chain
- Siebel - The third eye for customer monitoring
Chapter Two: Planning the Perfect Crime
Perfect Timing for Murder... Or So They Thought
The experts warned clearly: "This project needs 48 months" (4 full years).
The original plan was airtight:
- 1996-2000: Gradual and studied implementation like precise surgery
- January 2001: Launch the new system
- Comprehensive testing at every stage
- Intensive employee training
But in 1997, something happened that changed everything... The Y2K demon entered the game!
💀 Y2K Problem: The Digital Devil
The Killer Decision: Accelerating the Execution
Hershey management decided: "We won't wait until 2001. We must kill the old system before Y2K!"
The new plan (suicidal):
- ❌ ~~48 months~~ → ✅ Only 18 months! (62% reduction)
- ❌ ~~January 2001~~ → ✅ July 1999
- ❌ ~~Comprehensive testing~~ → ✅ Quick testing
- ❌ ~~Gradual implementation~~ → ✅ One fatal blow!
1996: Beginning of the Conspiracy
First Year1997: Changing the Crime Plan
Second Year1998-1999: Race with Death
Third YearJuly 1999: Execution Day
The Decisive MomentAugust-September 1999: Beginning of Slow Death
Two Months of AgonyOctober 1999: The Perfect Crime
Halloween NightChapter Three: Night of the Perfect Crime
July 1999: Executing the Murder
July 15, 1999 - The moment that changed history. The silent killer awakened from its slumber.
In the first hours, everything seemed quiet. Screens glowing, employees entering data, the system responding with suspicious silence.
But the killer was planning in the darkness...
August 1999: Beginning of Slow Death
First Conspiracy: Orders disappear into the void
- Customer orders 1000 boxes → Killer records 100
- Or records the order twice like a ghost!
- Or erases the order from existence!
Second Conspiracy: Warehouses become ghosts
- System whispers: "You have 5000 bags in warehouse"
- Reality screams: "Warehouse empty as a grave!"
- Or vice versa: Warehouse full but killer claims nothingness!
Third Conspiracy: Shipments freeze like corpses
- Order exists like a soul
- Goods exist like a body
- But killer prevents the eternal meeting!
💀 Revealing the Killer's Identity
- Demon of Rush: When they found a problem, they'd fix it and continue without retesting. Result: Problems returned stronger than before!
- Demon of Greed: Instead of trying the system in one branch first, they ran it across the entire empire. When problems occurred, they destroyed everything!
- Demon of Bad Timing: They launched the system in July - only 3 months before Halloween season. There was no time to escape the crime!
September 1999: Spreading Panic
Employees began losing faith in the silent killer. They started trying to escape to old methods:
- Writing orders on paper like the Stone Age
- Calling warehouses by phone like madmen
- Trying to bypass the killer by any means
But this made the chaos worse! Because the killer had information, and reality was something completely different.
October 1999: The Perfect Crime Completes
Halloween Season - The biggest candy sales season of the year, where sales reach over $3.9 billion annually in America (Source: Accio).
Thousands of stores and supermarkets screaming for millions of boxes of:
- Hershey's Kisses (the legendary chocolate)
- Jolly Rancher (colorful candy)
- Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
The Perfect Crime: Hershey had all this merchandise imprisoned in warehouses, but the silent killer prevented its escape! The new system completely failed to release orders despite having over $100 million worth of detained products (Source: ClearSpider).
Chapter Four: Harvesting the Crime
The Stolen Treasures
Collateral Victims
But these numbers aren't the whole tragedy...
Killing Trust:
- Stores that couldn't provide Halloween candy fled to Hershey's enemies
- Major customers canceled contracts years in the making
- Company reputation was buried in the graveyard of failure
Cost of Hiding the Body:
- Thousands of overtime hours trying to save what could be saved
- External consultants at astronomical costs to clean the crime scene
- Years to erase the traces of the crime
Psychological Damage:
- Employees resigned from shock
- Entire teams collapsed mentally
- Trust between management and employees died and was buried
Chapter Five: Autopsy - How Was the Crime Committed?
First Mistake: Demon of Rush
⏰ Lesson: Rush = Certain Death
Recipe for Death:
- If experts said 48 months, then 48 months - no negotiations!
- Rushing ERP projects = guaranteed suicide
- The time you save now will cost you 10 times your blood later
Second Mistake: Demon of Fake Testing
🧪 Lesson: Testing = Life or Death
Survival Recipe:
- Test every possible scenario - even nightmares
- If you find a monster and kill it, test again to make sure it's really dead!
- Test in an environment identical to reality - not in a sterile lab
- Test under peak pressure - make the system scream in pain
Third Mistake: Demon of the Single Strike
🎯 Lesson: Gradual = Survival
Survival Strategy:
- Start with a small pilot project - one victim
- Learn from mistakes in a limited environment
- Expand destruction gradually after ensuring everything is under control
- Have an escape plan to the old system if things get out of control
Fourth Mistake: Demon of Killer Timing
📅 Lesson: Timing = Everything
Timing Rules:
- Don't launch a new system before peak season - that's suicide
- Choose a quiet period for launch - when victims are sleeping
- Have enough time to clean the crime scene if problems occur
- Think about your annual business cycle - don't play with fire
🌍 ERP Problems in the Middle East: Same Killer, New Victims!
Painful Reality: The Silent Killer Still Works
Unfortunately, the same killer that destroyed Hershey in 1999 is still killing in the Middle East today! Studies indicate that 75% of ERP projects fall victim to the silent killer (Source: Fusion Practices).
Whether you're implementing SAP, Odoo, Oracle, or any other ERP system, the killer is the same and the weapons are the same:
🔥 Killer's Weapons in the Region
- Killer Rush Weapon: Tax deadlines (VAT, ZATCA), investor pressure, market competition
- Wrong Partner Weapon: Choosing based on cheapest price, not real expertise
- Destructive Customization Weapon: Trying to change the system to fit old methods, instead of improving methods
- Poisoned Data Weapon: Migrating corrupted or inaccurate data
- Fake Training Weapon: Throwing a user manual at employees a week before launch!
- Law Neglect Weapon: VAT, electronic invoicing, payroll, Arabic reports
Survival Guide from the Silent Killer
✅ How to Escape the Silent Killer in the Region
- Choose a local bodyguard: A partner with real expertise, not just knowing the system, but understanding local laws (ZATCA, VAT, WPS)
- Start with basics: Don't try to fight all monsters at once. Start with accounting and inventory, then expand (Source: Senna Labs)
- Purify your data from toxins: Before migrating any data, ensure it's clean and accurate. Poisoned data = certain death
- Train your army properly: Role-based training, not general training. And make training continuous, not one-time
- Prepare for battle from the start: Electronic invoicing, VAT, government reports - these aren't additions, they're essential weapons!
- Be patient for victory: ERP isn't instant black magic. Real victory appears 6-12 months after battle begins
Conclusion: Case File Closed
The Hershey story isn't just a tale from the past. It's living criminal evidence for any company thinking about implementing an ERP system:
❌ Silent Killer's Weapons
- Rushing implementation
- Shortening testing
- Sudden comprehensive deployment
- Killer timing
- Fake training
- Choosing based on price
✅ Survival Weapons
- Take sufficient time
- Test comprehensively
- Start small and expand gradually
- Choose appropriate timing
- Invest in training
- Choose based on expertise
