ENTERPRISE ERP RESCUE & TURNAROUND GOVERNANCE

Independent Review & Rescue for Distressed SAP S/4HANA Programs

When enterprise digital transformations stall, exceed budget, or face System Integrator disputes, Ownerstone delivers conflict-free forensic audits, Clean Core governance, and execution recovery for Boards and PE Partners.

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01 / Structural Independence

Unbiased Counsel Free From Implementation Conflict

Ownerstone is an independent SAP crisis advisory firm, retained by Boards, CEOs, and Private Equity Operating Partners when an S/4HANA program is in distress — or when the Board needs an unfiltered view before distress becomes irreversible.

We do not implement SAP.
We do not resell software.
We take no referral fees from any System Integrator or vendor.

We work exclusively for the Owner and speak only for the Owner. Our sole commercial interest is the recovery of enterprise value. Every finding, recommendation, and status report reaches the Board or Operating Partner directly — never filtered through the delivery team whose performance is under review.

When the System Integrator speaks for the Owner, the Owner stops being heard. We restore the Owner’s voice — without fear or favor.

Jacob Cherian, Founder and Managing Partner of Ownerstone

Jacob Cherian

Founder & Managing Partner

Twenty-five years inside SAP transformations from three vantage points: as the customer, as an SAP America consultant, and inside a System Integrator. Retained by executives to diagnose and recover programs stalled under major Systems Integrators, frequently as client-side design authority. In 2018 he co-led the world’s first S/4HANA brownfield bootcamp with SAP America. He developed the S.A.F.E.R.™ methodology, and founded Ownerstone on the conviction that the market needed a voice with no financial stake in the implementation.

Atlanta, Georgia [email protected] LinkedIn Profile
02 / Root-Cause Diagnostics

The Anatomy of ERP & SAP Distress

Every distressed SAP program Ownerstone reviews maps to one of seven root-cause archetypes. Identifying yours determines the recovery path.

01 / SCOPE

Scope Explosion

Change requests exceed 15/month. Original SOW unrecognizable. SI billing accelerates as scope expands without boundary enforcement.

02 / DATA

Data Debt

Migration reconciliation below 90%. Business running parallel spreadsheets. Financial close impossible post go-live.

03 / GOVERNANCE

Governance Vacuum

No active PMO. Decisions in email. RAID log unmaintained. No sponsor with authority to stop the program when red flags appear.

04 / VENDOR

SI Conflict of Interest

SI marks its own quality gates. Change orders increasing as timeline extends. Consultant churn high. No independent validation layer exists.

05 / ARCHITECTURE

Technical Debt Paralysis

Custom object count exceeds 400. Upgrade path blocked. RISE with SAP contracted but technically impossible to execute without intervention.

06 / PEOPLE

OCM Failure

Training completion below 60%. Users bypassing the system. Shadow Excel proliferating 60+ days post go-live. Change fatigue visible across operations.

07 / STRATEGY

Wrong Migration Approach

Brownfield chosen for a business undergoing process change, or Greenfield without process re-engineering. Architecture fighting the business model.

03 / Proprietary Operating System

S.A.F.E.R.™

Five Phases of Board-Led Recovery

A clinical operating system for Board-level intervention, not a generic consulting framework.

S

Stop the Bleeding

Phase I: Triage

Immediate scope freeze. War Room activation within 48 hours. Halt of change orders, budget approvals, and go-live commitments until the diagnostic is complete. The first phase creates the conditions for honest assessment.

A

Assess the Trauma

Phase II: Diagnostics

Root cause analysis against 14 diagnostic categories. Program Health Index scoring. SI performance forensics. Every finding is evidence-based, evidence-cited, and evidence-defended — not assumption-based.

F

Formulate the Recovery

Phase III: Planning

Recovery roadmap authored independently. Kill-switch gates every 90 days. Value Recovery Bridge. The Board receives a written plan that either the program can execute against — or that terminates the program if that is the right answer.

E

Execute the Reset

Phase IV: Execution

Recovery execution with Ownerstone co-signing every phase gate. The SI continues its work; we validate independently. Findings reach the Board directly, not through the SI’s status reports.

R

Rehabilitate & Reinforce

Phase V: Hypercare

Structured hypercare. Independent PMO structure. Monthly Board pack cadence. Value Recovery Bridge delivered to Board. Formal exit report.

04 / Advisory Services

Six Engagement Types

Each engagement is structured for a specific point in the SAP program lifecycle or dispute. All report directly to the Board, PE Operating Partner, agency leadership, or retaining counsel — never through the Systems Integrator.

Transformation Rescue Full forensic recovery of a stalled or failing S/4HANA program. Risk & Capital Assurance Independent assurance that reported status matches operational reality. Business Value Assurance Quantification of realized versus promised value. Operational Integrity Stabilization and control when the system is live but fragile. Independent Verification & Validation Conflict-free IV&V for agencies and regulated organizations. Expert Witness & Litigation Support Forensic program expertise for counsel in SAP disputes.
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05 / Proven Outcomes

Recent Program Interventions

Three anonymized engagements. Real programs. Recovering a distressed ERP protects capital, restores governance, and secures corporate enterprise value.

CASE 01 US MARKET

Breaking the 3-Year Deadlock

3.5 years stalled → Go-live achieved
$30M–$50M Write-off Avoided

The Challenge: An SAP ECC to S/4HANA migration became a 3.5-year delayed project. The Board lost confidence and the SI lost credibility.

The Turnaround: Cleared decision bottlenecks and synchronized business units with IT delivery under independent PMO authority.

Result: Go-Live Achieved · Time-to-Value: 6 mos
CASE 02 GLOBAL MFG

The SI Reset & Recovery

SI replaced → Go-live in 6 months
$15M–$25M Capital Preserved

The Challenge: System Integrator failed to deliver, leaving a global S/4HANA program stalled and manufacturing operations at risk.

The Turnaround: Stabilized architecture, reset program governance, and prioritized critical manufacturing modules on a 6-month timeline.

Result: Launched in 6 mos · Trust Restored
CASE 03 OIL & GAS

Data Integrity Recovery

Premature exit halted → Trust restored
$20M–$40M Value at Risk Recovered

The Challenge: The SI attempted a premature exit, rushing Go-Live while leaving significant unresolved defects in data migration.

The Turnaround: Halted exit, implemented transparent reporting, and validated data integrity prior to re-approving Go-Live.

Result: Hypercare Stabilized · 90-Day Reset
06 / Public Market Intelligence

Current Record · Disclosed 2024–2026

Four failures and one success, every figure drawn from an SEC filing, a court document or a public inquiry.

Figures are as disclosed in the sources cited on each card. The archetype attribution beneath each figure is Ownerstone’s assessment based on those public disclosures, not a finding of any court or regulator.

$172M
Zimmer Biomet
2024 — S/4HANA · Deloitte
SI Conflict + Scope Explosion
Active Lawsuit · 2025 Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. v. Deloitte Consulting LLP, Index No. 655283/2025, Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, complaint filed September 4, 2025.
~$135M
Lamb Weston
2024 — ERP · Vendor Undisclosed
Data Debt + Governance Vacuum
Securities Suit · 2026 Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc., FY2026 Form 10-K, filed July 24, 2026; related securities class action, U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho.
$89.1M
Avient
2025 — S/4HANA · Abandoned
Wrong Migration + Scope Explosion
Written Off · 2025 Avient Corporation, Form 10-Q for the nine months ended September 30, 2025, Note 3 — $71.6M impairment of capitalized implementation costs, $14.7M unpaid contractual hosting obligations, $2.8M severance. The filing states no combined total; $89.1M is the sum of the three.
C$620M
SAAQ — SAAQclic
2023 — SAP · Public Inquiry
Governance Vacuum + SI Conflict
Judicial Inquiry · 2026 Commission d’enquête sur la gestion de la modernisation des systèmes informatiques de la SAAQ (Commissioner Denis Gallant), Rapport et recommandations, February 16, 2026; Vérificateur général du Québec, Rapport 2024–2025, ch. 2, February 2025.
$580M
Clorox
2026 — S/4HANA · Completed (The Control Case)
Succeeded · Controls Effective

Proof that proactive, independent governance and clean core enforcement yields successful enterprise outcomes.

The Clorox Company, FY2026 Form 10-K, filed August 7, 2026; Q4 FY2026 earnings release, August 3, 2026.

Historical Record · 1996–2019

The canonical failures. Older, widely documented, and retained because each one teaches an archetype cleanly.

Figures below are as reported in company filings and contemporaneous press coverage at the time of each event. Archetype attribution is Ownerstone’s assessment.

$64M
Revlon (2018)
Governance Vacuum + OCM Failure
€500M
Lidl (2018)
Wrong Approach + Scope Explosion
-25% Sales
Haribo (2018)
OCM Failure + Data Debt
€100M
LeasePlan (2019)
Governance Vacuum + Wrong Approach
$125M
Avon (2013)
OCM Failure + Wrong Approach
$500M Claim
Waste Mgmt (2007)
SI Conflict of Interest
$100M Sales
Nike (2001)
Data Debt + Scope Explosion
-19% Profit
Hershey’s (1999)
Governance Vacuum + Data Debt
Bankruptcy
FoxMeyer (1996)
Technical Debt + Governance Vacuum
07 / Rapid Assessment

The Board Visibility Test

Ten statements a Board, Audit Committee or PE Operating Partner should be able to confirm without asking the System Integrator. What you cannot confirm is the finding.

Check every statement you can confirm today

How the result is read
8–10Governance appears intact. Continue monitoring.
4–7Material visibility gaps. Independent baseline recommended.
0–3The Board is flying blind. That is the distress signal.
08 / Confidential Engagement

Confidential Executive Inquiry

Direct, NDA-protected outreach for Board Members, Audit Committees, and PE Operating Partners.

Please do not include privileged or commercially sensitive program detail in this form. A mutual NDA is available at no cost before any substantive discussion. Information you send is handled under our Privacy Policy and the Confidentiality Statement.