Start Right: De-Risk Your ERP Investment Before Implementation Begins

neil.how@limelight.consulting (Neil How) — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 12:12:40 GMT

Kick off is never the begining

Read why preparation is the key to ERP success and how to build rock solid foundations with enterprise readiness architecture.

6 Steps to a Successful Centre of Excellence (COE)

neil.how@limelight.consulting (Neil How) — Tue, 05 May 2026 15:52:11 GMT

Your SAP programme does not end at go-live.

Without a Centre of Excellence, you will be reimplementing in five years.

Most organisations abandon the governance, best practices and business-IT alignment that made their implementation work the moment they go live. This guide covers the 6 steps to building an SAP Centre of Excellence that protects your investment long after the programme team has left

8 Steps For a Successful ERP

neil.how@limelight.consulting (Neil How) — Tue, 05 May 2026 15:44:31 GMT

8 things you needs to get right to deliver a successful ERP programme

Most ERP programmes do not fail because the technology was wrong. They fail because the fundamentals were deprioritised under the pressure of delivery. This guide covers the eight areas that determine the outcome — and gives you a practical checklist for each

6 Hidden Change Challenges that could derail your transformation

jayne.mather@limelight.consulting (Jayne Mather) — Tue, 05 May 2026 15:25:38 GMT

The 6 Problems

S/4HANA programmes rarely fail because of the technology. They fail because the change around the technology is underestimated, under-resourced, or invisible until it is too late. These are the six problems we see most often — and the practical steps that stop them becoming programme-level risks

RunFast - Our Book

neil.how@limelight.consulting (Neil How) — Tue, 05 May 2026 14:18:10 GMT

Most SAP programmes don't fail because of technology. They fail because nobody prepared properly.

RunFast is the bestselling book by Limelight founder Neil How. It distils over twenty years of programme leadership into six principles that separate the programmes that succeed from those that quietly fall apart.

The Problem

Every executive who has lived through a difficult SAP programme knows the pattern. It starts with optimism. A compelling business case. The right software. A credible delivery partner.

Then it stalls.

Scope creeps. Costs escalate. The relationship becomes adversarial. The board starts asking hard questions nobody can answer. People who were excited about the programme start avoiding it.

This is not a technology problem. It is a leadership, preparation and governance problem. And it has been happening for decades.

RunFast was written to break that cycle.

What RunFast is (and Isn't)

RunFast is not a project management manual. It is an ethos — a set of principles drawn from hundreds of transformation programmes, interviews with business leaders across every sector, and over two decades of hands-on delivery.

The book introduces a methodology — six areas that determine whether a programme accelerates or stalls:

Preparation — The work that happens before a single consultant walks through the door. Get this wrong and everything downstream is harder than it needs to be.
Reorganisation — Stripping out complexity. Simplifying governance, tooling and decision-making so the programme can actually move.
Outcomes — Shifting from output-driven delivery (ticking boxes) to outcome-driven delivery (realising benefits). A subtle distinction that changes everything.
Mindset — Building a culture where the programme team believes it will succeed — and behaves accordingly. This is where most programmes quietly lose momentum.
People — Setting teams up to succeed. Executive commitment, clear expectations, and the courage to remove people who are blocking progress.
Tempo — Setting the pace and maintaining it. Recognising the inevitable dips in energy and having a strategy for when they hit.

None of this is theoretical. Every principle in the book has been tested on real programmes with real budgets and real consequences.

Why It Matters

RunFast was first published in 2019 and became an Amazon bestseller, shortlisted for Business Book of the Year. The principles have not dated — if anything, they have become more relevant.

SAP S/4HANA programmes are larger, more complex and more scrutinised than ever. Boards are less tolerant of overruns. The cost of getting the first ninety days wrong compounds across the entire programme lifecycle. And the gap between organisations that prepare properly and those that do not has never been wider.

The principles shared is the foundation of how Limelight operates today. It underpins our RunFast LaunchPad, our programme governance approach, and the way we work alongside delivery partners on behalf of our clients. When we talk about being a Business Integrator — protecting your investment from the client side — this is where it started.

Who Should Read It

CIOs and CTOs navigating board pressure to deliver transformation on time and under budget. Transformation Directors building a programme from scratch and determined to get the foundations right. CFOs who need confidence that there is a structured, proven approach behind the investment. Programme leaders who know something is not working but cannot pinpoint exactly what.

If you are about to start an SAP programme, in the middle of one that has lost momentum, or trying to understand why the last one was so painful — this book will give you a framework to think differently.

Twenty years of programme leadership. Six principles. One clear methodology.

Not sure where to start?

Take the scorecard. It scores your organisation against each of the six principles and shows you where to focus first. It takes five minutes and generates a personalised report. Link is here: - Take the scorecard.

Publications