Investments in enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are falling, thanks in part to the fragile UK economy, but also to inefficiencies with the systems themselves, according to a new survey from the National Computing Centre.

Almost a quarter of all ERP and enterprise software projects had been put on hold during the recession, and 41 per cent are being postponed, the survey found.

Just under a third of respondents expect to carry on with current investments, and only six per cent plan to increase them.

In many cases, organisations found the cost of ERP systems prohibitive. Some 18 per cent of companies believe that costs had 'greatly' exceeded expectations, and over 50 per cent that costs had 'exceeded' expectations.

Time was also an issue, and a quarter of respondents said that timelines had been 'greatly exceeded', while just over 50 per cent admitted that they had been 'exceeded'.

Unsurprisingly, these delays have had an effect on the cost-benefits of ERP solutions, and just a quarter of respondents said that implementations had met expected timeframes.

"In these challenging times it is more imperative than ever that ERP vendors demonstrate an effective return on investment for their software, and this includes making their systems easier to implement and manage," said Steve Fox, managing director of the National Computing Centre's Evaluation Centre.

Around 47 per cent of respondents said that their ERP or enterprise solutions were meeting their requirements, while 58 per cent said that they were considering using their ERP system on a software-as-a-service basis.

Over 100 companies with turnover of between £5m and £1bn were questioned for the survey.