Navigating the complex world of ERP selection can be challenging if this project is your first experience with it, especially if it involves hiring outside help to assist. An important starting point should be creating a list of pertinent questions your team should pose to adequately vet vendors, solutions, and implementation plan partners as part of an ERP software implementation.
How can you identify which inquiries to ask of an ERP vendor? Although it might be tempting to begin your search for an ERP by contacting vendors directly for advice and support, this can leave you confused and disoriented as their role is simply selling software - not providing business functions advice! Before engaging in fruitful conversations with any vendor, you must complete some preparatory homework first.
When meeting with vendors, the conversation should revolve around you being in charge and asking the right questions to obtain answers that suit you best. First, you must determine your expectations from software, followed by meetings, presentations, and demos with vendors in which their applications may meet these.
As part of your preparation for vendor meetings, it may take considerable effort to understand your business operations requirements in depth. To do this effectively and attract more qualified vendors' interest in you as a customer. Your initial interactions may only include salespeople to secure future meetings with technical salespersons.
Questions You Absolutely Need To Ask Any ERP Software Firm
Based on your position within an organization, it may be easy for you to be informed about its business intelligence procedures, strategy, problems, and distinctive features. But if you were "volunteered" as the enterprise resource planning project leader and typically focused on departmental tasks instead, gathering new data might be required to communicate effectively with vendors and make an informed decision. Before speaking to vendors directly or soliciting bids from vendors for services:
- Industry, primary products/services offered, and business goals sales strategies should all be identified.
- Please provide some basic details of your income, staff numbers, and current systems you intend to change in this process.
- Why are you considering this purchase, and what are its motivations?
- Awareness should also be raised regarding additional systems that might be integrated with an ERP replacement solution.
- Significant investments in essential systems--like the CRM, eCommerce platform, or product lifecycle inventory management tool--will likely not be replaced any time soon.
- Offices, warehouses, distribution centers, plants, and retail establishments require space. There may not be sufficient locations.
- Operating regions vary; whether an ERP project is involved is also vital information.
- If your needs involve international cooperation, specify languages, localizations, and currencies as needed.
- Understand which core business processes your new solution must incorporate and any secondary processes that make sense to include.
- Industry or region-related requirements such as ITAR, government contracts, FDA validations, and job costing are often essential.
- Critical systems you want your new ERP to incorporate.
Having this data at hand will allow you to rapidly pre qualify vendors and decide whether or not they are suitable partners; without such knowledge, your ability to ask meaningful questions of vendors would be severely diminished.
Vendor Background
Start with basic inquiries when assessing an ERP vendor selection for their suitability and viability. This initial vetting step should help decide whether further investigation into them is required; give up if they lack experience working with clients from similar sectors with similar special needs.
- How long have you been operating the business?
- How many employees work for you?
- What types of goods and services can I obtain? An overview of their offerings will allow you to assess better whether a vendor dedicates most or just some human resources to support your industry.
- Which ownership type do you belong to? While this might seem irrelevant, its answer will provide valuable information regarding who will join as partners within your business.
Application Background
At this stage of the process, background information about an application is gathered to give a good picture of any recommendations from vendors or successful implementation team partners under your high-level requirements. This allows for the early and efficient elimination of teams that do not match up well with your particular set of needs.
- What is the name of the application you would recommend?
Now is the time to provide the salesperson with some details about your business so they can accurately select products suitable for you.
- How many customers do they currently have?
This question might seem innocuous initially, but when applied across numerous vendors, it will give an accurate picture of market viability and prevalence. Furthermore, finding out their customer count in your nation can provide insight into any special offers for particular regions; otherwise, locating support could prove challenging if assistance from abroad is required.
After this step is taken, you should research more deeply the specific requirements that this application would fulfill for your particular industry or needs, such as manufacturing, accounting, reporting, or integration features that might suit it well.
Who Performs The Implementations?
As this initial meeting between you and the team you may work with throughout your new ERP implementation checklist is crucial, the vendor selection process should include this crucial aspect from its outset. Remember to consider both aspects, as this could make or break your implementation project experience! Often, two companies may be working on separate aspects; be sure to ask pertinent questions such as those listed above when meeting with new companies for implementation phases, as they can also make all of the difference for successful ERP projects.
- Do your implementation costs occur directly, through partners, or another entity?
- Have you had prior experience working with clients who share similar characteristics?
- Have You Considered Our Industry as Referees? Although references from your sector might not currently be necessary, they could be in time. Assuring yourself of their readiness is, therefore, key.
- At which stage will implementation time resources be introduced into the selection process?
- Have You Implemented it in Any of Our Target Countries Yet? This can make all of the difference for small to midsize multinational businesses who do not wish to work with Big 4 firms for international resource acquisition.
- Which products and how are resources allocated at your business are you using?
- Discovering whether or not the services being discussed are their primary focus or secondary services will simplify your research.
At this stage, to gain an overall idea of how much your software will cost, request high-level cost estimates broken down per user and module. Your implementation partner should still offer precise estimates to prepare your team for expected expenses. However, they might be reluctant to provide firm cost estimations without knowing all the details regarding your work scope.
How Many Successful ERP Installations Have You Performed?
Implementing ERP can be complex and unpredictable. To ensure an enjoyable process and successful outcomes, any consultant you hire for this endeavor should have extensive experience in handling any unexpected hurdles or circumstances that might arise during its implementation failure.
Who Is Your Ideal Customer?
ERP software can be an indispensable asset to managing any company or organization, yet not every solution will fit perfectly for every sector, business size, and revenue range. Therefore, when choosing an ERP consulting firm that suits the image and culture of your organization correctly, for the optimal software solution possible, they should possess experience working with businesses similar to your own in terms of industry knowledge and past experience working on similar cases.
Describe Your Consulting Resources. How Many Full-Time Consultants Do You Employ, And Are They Qualified?
An advisory firm's service quality depends entirely on its advisors. Ensure you know their years of technical and accounting experience, qualifications, and availability; sometimes, it may even be possible to request senior or junior consultants; in these instances, the price might change; ensure the company has sufficient capacity and capability of responding rapidly and timely as you require.
How Will The Software Fit My Business Requirements?
Starting off properly means conducting a needs analysis. Before exploring software solutions, you must first identify any problems - sometimes, areas that could be made more effective may be overlooked by yourself or anyone in the organization. Therefore, allow an outside consultant to interview your staff as part of this process to assist with finding ways to increase efficiency and time-saving measures.
What Kind Of Training And Support Do You Offer?
Implementation is only the initial stage; complete training and ongoing assistance will also be essential. Please ensure the consultants you collaborate with offer full support during launch and for at least three months post-Go-Live; this way, you can tap their expertise whenever needed. Furthermore, all end-user training must include online, in-person, and classroom settings so your staff members can use it once the project is completed.
How Do You Ensure Customer Satisfaction?
Consulting firms should emphasize meeting their customers' needs first and foremost. To ensure the software solution you select matches all of your specifications precisely and the project runs on schedule and budget, communication between you and the consultant must remain ongoing and open; they should regularly measure customer satisfaction measurements.
How Do You Ensure Each Project Comes In On Time And Budget?
Gartner reports that implementation of ERPs typically exceeds budget. 57% of ERP projects ran 189% over initial estimates. To avoid unexpected expenditure, we advise working with companies offering fixed fee billing; that way, you know precisely the costs before beginning to alleviate any unnecessary worries, and you can focus on ensuring the software meets all your requirements. Ask them how they plan to implement, such as whether project management services will be included with their solution.
Can The Software Be Customizable And Integrated With My Other Systems?
Consulting companies may offer top-of-the-line business supply chain management software with features galore, but often, only part of the answer can be found therein. Additional features or slight adjustments to its operation might make the software perfect for customers and operations; the ERP system's ability to integrate with other apps is one of its prime attractions - be sure to inquire further about that ability!
Can You Give Me References?
Always ask for references when dealing with businesses that claim they're the best since the opinions of others often provide more reliable insight than anything a company says about itself. A confident business will often willingly provide several references if confident in its products and services; ask similar companies (industry, size, revenue, employees, etc.) for referrals if possible (significantly similar industries, sizes, or revenues.)
How Do You Separate Your Firm From Your Competition?
Are they the best regarding price, guarantee, team size, vertical niche expertise, and service provision? Which factors matter the most for you and your organization?
How Does Your Software Support The Extended Enterprise?
Your choice of software shouldn't just include accounting programs - in case later features such as website customer relationship management or CRM are added on later on, they should still work within your software system chosen now.
What Are The Benefits Of ERP Software?
Reduced Operational Costs
ERP may cost money upfront, but over time, there will be cost savings as it relieves tedious operations, financial management plan/tasks and allows businesses to make informed financial decisions based on real-time data.
Enhanced Security
For optimal security of users and data, top ERP software solutions offer cutting-edge security features like encryption, multi factor authentication, and real-time monitoring, this is one of the main benefits of ERP systems in an organization.
Remote Work Support
Operations teams can leverage cloud-based ERP as the single source of truth to give workers easy access to all the resources and information necessary to complete their jobs - whether they're at the office, at home, or on the go.
Simplified Forecasting And Planning
ERP software's forecasting and planning capabilities play an integral part in providing users with insights needed for accurate resource planning and cost forecasting processes.
Increased Productivity
ERP software gives stakeholders access to real-time visibility into business processes and helps identify areas for potential productivity gains.
Enhanced Customer Service
ERP software enhances customer service in various ways, from expediting product and service delivery to improving client communication.
Conclusion
Your company must be ready for success when selecting ERP. Inadequate or incorrect questioning could leave your decision uncertain and provide too many inappropriate applications or options to choose from. With the assistance of this guide, you will be able to successfully navigate the ERP selection process and find vendors who meet both your company's needs and culture and level of experience requirements.
