While no one denies the massive benefits embracing enterprise technology solutions bring to a company, selecting the right ERP solution can be a difficult endeavour. Especially if your business has traditionally operated with old processes or in manual ways.
What’s even worse is not considering all the important factors that lead you to select the best fit ERP for your business and you end up pouring a huge investment into one that doesn’t serve your needs, ending up with a white elephant that gives you more headache than it relieves.
Want to know what you should look out for?
This article will be an in-depth guide to help you get started in the path of digital transformation by giving you a couple of factors to help you select the best ERP solutions.
ERPs, also called Enterprise Resource Planning is software that helps any business organize, distribute, use and manage data within the business more efficiently. These can be used to optimize the day-to-day operations within a business.
The great thing about ERPs is that their benefits ripple across all functions within the business – Accounting, Human Resource, Finance, Marketing and more.
By integrating all the data a business generates and uses into a streamlined and meaningful manner, you can eliminate duplication of data, bottlenecks in the business processes and even improve collaboration.
ERPs can provide greater insights by making sense of all data a business generates and can help drive more value to customers as well.
Another great benefit of ERPs is that it is immensely scalable. Mid-sized businesses can use ERPs and as they grow their IT infrastructure and ERP can scale to accommodate the growing needs.
Proper implementation of ERPs and management can result in greater benefits outside the internal operations as well. These benefits include:
Data can be shared seamlessly between functions and teams. This in turn facilitates greater collaboration and efficiency.
Proper ERP systems, when done with the right implementation can improve business processes thus lowering your operational costs by a considerable amount.
Big data has become synonymous with high performance because the ability to harness it into data-driven business decisions is the key that sets apart the good from great. That is exactly what ERPs can deliver in a multitude of disciplines. From pivoting product offerings to maximizing customer lifetime value, ERP turns raw data into actionable intelligence.
When selecting the best ERP solution for your business, regardless of the size of the business itself, there are some important factors to consider. Making the right choice when choosing the ERP solution that works best for you is important in assuring this new investment is aligned with the company’s strategy moving forward.
Collaborate and discuss with various stakeholders from different levels and departments on the scope of your requirement. There are various ERPs software out there to fit different needs. But that does not mean you should take a gamble by blindly picking from a list.
The ERP you choose needs to match the strategy your business has and allow it to achieve its mission. You may want to make a list of your requirements you need from an ERP software and what results you want it to achieve. That is a good starting point.
As your business grows and demands are increased, your technology infrastructure should be able to do the same. Thinking long term and ensuring a strategic and proper implementation, keeping future scope in mind is very important. Go for a solution that can easily scale with your business.
Bear in mind, though, that although customizations exist to tailor fit an ERP down to the last inch, it might not be a necessary hassle and not always worth the cost. Most responsible ERP implementation partners tend to help separate your needs from your wants and work on your “absolutely-must-haves” more than your “nice-to-haves”. And if more of your absolutely-must-haves appear in the out-of-box solution your provider has then you know that’s a highlight contender for your best fit ERP. When it comes to customizations, less is always best!
Next up is choosing which type of deployment you want to go with. You can choose to go with either on-site, cloud or even a hybrid of the two. Each of these platforms, of course, comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages.
For example, an on-site ERP solution will require a significant up-front investment but provides control and management can be done in-house. On the other hand, a cloud ERP solution provides faster implementation with lower cost of ownership but may require compatibility testing and integration.
To find out more about the different mode a-la ERPs, read this post.
Setting up an ERP is more than just the technology. Choosing the right vendor is vital in the success of the implementation process. Whichever vendor you choose to decide to acquire your ERP solution from, one thing is for certain. It will either be a long, fruitful, collaborative partnership or a painful, nightmarish episode.
Ideally, you would want a vendor that can make the process as easy as possible with lots of expertise and flawless customer support.
(Hint: Here’s a company that has been helping companies successfully implement ERP since 2006 😉)
This also somewhat ties into our second point. Costs are an important factor to consider as well. Remember, ERPs are, in all sense of the word, an investment. Just as there are bad and good investments, ERPs solutions can also have the same outcomes.
However, the better way to think about the cost is which is the greater value (or the lesser of two evils, if you will). Just because a particular solution is cheaper might not give you better value if it performs poorly due to a mismatch in system capabilities and your business needs.
Imagine buying a plane ticket then realizing there’s a mistake in your booking and there’s no one you can call to rectify the issue. Similarly when purchasing an ERP, you want a solutions vendor provides you with good support. Regardless if the software is intuitive and easy to use? Yes! Support goes beyond just bugs or issues, it might be that certain new functions need a little bit more explanation or that your staff might have simply forgot how to input certain forms. Having someone on call to help is the insurance that safeguards your investment.
CRT Insights Technologies offers professional and expert consultation and implementation on ERP solutions for businesses across various industries. With our services, the hurdles of choosing and implementing the right ERP solution that can create the greatest amount of impact is made easier.
What we do:
Selecting the best ERP solution for your business is not as difficult as one might think if you know what to look out for. Whether you turn to expert advice from an implementation specialist or try to figure out which works best on your own, considered these 5 factors before you decide. After all, this investment will help you enhance and streamline your business processes with cutting-edge business solutions and cultivate a culture of innovation and growth. May the Best ERP win!
Did this article help you in your ERP selection? We’d love to hear from you!
This article is part of a campaign for CRT Insights Technologies’ Live-in-5 Rapid Implementation programme. Just 5 Easy Steps to getting your business future-ready.
CRT Insights Technologies provides world-class ERP solutions and expert advice from experienced regional consultants. No matter stage of your ERP discovery journey you’re at, CRT’s got the solution to make your digital transformation a breeze. Contact us today and quote “Live-in-5” for a free 1-hour consultation on your ERP needs today.
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