Yes, This Is A Puff Piece? A Comparative Analysis of the Vendor Defences of Puffery, Statements of Future Intent and Disclaimers – Part 2 — How far does the divergence between promised and actual capabilities of an ERP implementation stretch?

Abstract One of the common themes among various failed ERP implementations and outsourcing transactions is the divergence between the representations made by technology vendor sales teams as to promised skills, expertise and delivery, and the actually provided skills, expertise and delivery. Part 1 (Beardwood, CRi 2024, 85) began by providing an overview of the law of misrepresentation, and then the common vendor defences of puffery and opinion, statements of future intent, and contractual disclaimers, in Canada (I) and the United States (II). Part 2 continues by providing an overview of the law of misrepresentation, and then the common vendor defences of puffery and opinion, statements of future intent, and contractual disclaimers, in the European Union (III). The analysis then assesses how these defences were raised by vendors in two recent ERP failure lawsuits (IV), before concluding with lessons learned for vendors and customers (V).