It can be difficult to know what makes an ERP selection successful due to their only being two obvious outcomes – you either selected a system or you did not. The truth is it can take months before it becomes clear if the system you went with was the right choice and by then it is too late to make a change. That is why it is vital to select the right system during your ERP project.
To make an ERP selection successful the result needs to be a system that helps you achieve your business goals. Ultimately, it must support your business processes and ways of working so that team members feel comfortable using the ERP system.
We have laid out 4 different ways you can make your ERP selection successful down below.
Gather Your Requirements
The first step before considering any ERP options is to make sure you have gathered your ERP requirements. This means looking at how your business operates currently, where gaps exist, and what improvements you would like to make. It is important to realise what features are required for your business and what ones would be nice to have but you could live without.
There is a lot of value in ERP requirements gathering in the long term, so it is worth ensuring you dedicate the time to doing it properly. You should always work with subject matter experts within your company and find out what they need from a system. These will be everyday systems users who are experts on how your current operations are running.
Clear requirements will provide the foundation to making an ERP selection successful.
Look for Industry Experience
During the ERP selection process, it is important to try find a company that has experience in your industry. This may be an ERP system that specialises in your sector or a support partner that has worked with clients similar to you.
Working with partners and vendors that have experience in your industry will help with any issues that may arise during the project. They will have likely seen the problem before or know how to avoid the most common issues. Another great benefit is they will know of any legal or regulatory requirements that exist. This type of experience can prove invaluable in avoiding potential problems later in the project.
Consider Vendor Stability
The ERP market has a diverse range of options, from large players who have been around for decades to young start-up companies looking to shake up the industry. Each type of vendor has their advantages and disadvantages, but it is worth considering the stability of potential options. This can include:
- How financially strong is the company?
- Do they regularly update their software?
- Do they respond quickly to inquiries and issues?
- How many customers do they have currently using their system?
Asking these types of questions is what makes an ERP selection successful as you can decide if the vendor is reliable now and over the coming years. You may think a new, smaller ERP vendor has the perfect product but if they go out of business in 12 months where does that leave
you?
Aim for Scalability
As Covid-19 has shown, the world really can change overnight. Depending on the industry, many companies were faced with a huge increase or decrease in demand for their products. It was not something that could be predicted but forced companies to work in new ways and to new demands.
Even in more normal times, having scalability in your ERP solution can be a very important factor. To make an ERP selection successful in the long term, you should consider your company’s growth plans and how systems might grow and change during this time. Then, look for a system that can support this by growing with you. After the intense and expensive project of getting a new system, you do not want to have to repeat the process in two years because you have outgrown your ERP!
Conclusion
ERP projects are no easy task and rely on collaboration between internal and external parties. Once you add in the time and cost, the pressure of getting a project right can be immense. We have covered five different ways that you can make your ERP selection successful to help make your project go as smoothly as possible.
Our team are experts in delivering ERP projects and we work across the full project life cycle. If you think you could benefit from help in selecting an ERP system, then get in touch with us today.