Criteria for choosing the right ERP-System

The decision to move to an ERP-System is a big one. In fact, it’s often the single largest purchase your business will make in its life. It can also have a huge impact on how you do business and what kind of results you get from your investment. So before you decide on an ERP-System, make sure that you do some research first! This guide will help walk through some of the major considerations when choosing an ERP-System.

Technology

Before you choose an ERP-System, you should consider the technology used in the system. First of all, it is important to know whether it is a cloud-based solution or not. Secondly, it is essential to find out how will they support their technology in the future. If they use proprietary software, this means that they won’t be able to switch to another provider without investing lots of resources into adapting their system. The last thing that you should think about is compatibility with your company’s IT infrastructure and costs related with implementation, upgrades and maintenance of the chosen system

Costs

When you’re considering which ERP system to buy, it’s important to consider the costs of the software, hardware and implementation. In addition, you should also factor in the costs of maintenance and training.

Software is often one of the biggest expenses for a new ERP system. This cost can be reduced by using open source software or purchasing an off-the-shelf solution rather than customizing one from scratch. Hardware includes servers, workstations and mobile devices used by employees working with your company’s data — and some companies will need more than others based on their size and location. Implementing an ERP solution can be expensive if your company doesn’t already have an infrastructure in place or lacks skilled IT staff members who are capable of implementing such systems themselves; however, this is becoming less common as technology advances at breakneck speeds (which means organizations like yours might not need special certifications). Training your staff on how best to use this new system will also cost money since they’ll likely need more instruction than usual due to unfamiliarity with such technology

Sustainability and Growth

Sustainability and growth are related, but they’re not the same. Sustainability is often confused with growth and even though they are related, they are not the same. Sustainability focuses on the long term; it looks at the future of your company and tries to ensure that it will be around for years to come. Growth, on the other hand, focuses on short-term gains and capitalizing on opportunities that present themselves quickly so you can take advantage of them before someone else does. The key here is that sustainability isn’t mutually exclusive from growth — in fact, it’s very much in line with what businesses need right now if they want their systems to work well over time (and into the future).

Customization

Customization is important to your business.

Your procurement processes, internal distribution and sales processes are unique to your business. By choosing a software solution that supports customization, you’ll be able to tailor the system to suit your specific needs. You can also use customization as a way of adapting and updating the software for future changes in legislation or industry regulations.

You can choose from two options:

A vendor-led approach where an expert from the vendor company will work with you on customizing the system while it’s being built (this option requires more time and money)
An in-house developer who works with you on customizing the system after it has been built (this option requires less time but more money)

Scalability and Flexibility

It’s very important to choose a system that will scale with your business as it grows. You want a system that can keep up with:

The changing needs of your company.
Increased demands on the system and its resources.
The addition of new modules, features, users, data or interfaces.

Integration and Interfaces

If you’re planning to use a software as a service (SaaS) ERP system, but have other software systems in place that are not included in the SaaS, then you will want to look into how easy it is to integrate these systems with your new ERP.

A good example of an interface issue would be if the new ERP does not support the same language as another system you need to use. If this is the case and there is no workaround for converting language, then you may end up needing to buy two separate products or hire someone who can translate between them.

This is why testing out all of your integration points at every step of implementation is so important because once they are integrated, it will be difficult (if not impossible) to change anything later on

Security

Security is a major concern for any business. It should be a concern for any system, too, and it’s even more important to consider when choosing an ERP-System.

Security breaches are common in the world today, from data leaks to hackers infiltrating systems and stealing information or money. Security is a major concern for any ERP-System because you don’t want your company’s sensitive data being leaked out into the world by hackers.

Support and Maintenance

One of the most important aspects of any software purchase is support and maintenance. The right vendor will be able to provide you with efficient and effective support as well as keep your system running smoothly in between upgrades and patches. We recommend that you ask these questions when shopping around:

How much does it cost?
Can I get a demo?
How long has the company been around?

An ERP-System is a long term investment.

An ERP-System is a long term investment. The software, training and maintenance are expensive and take time to set up, so it’s important to be sure that you’re making the right decision for your business before you jump into this commitment.

An ERP-System is not a one size fits all solution. Every company is different, so make sure that what you choose can meet your needs without needing any customization or additional modules or features added later on (which could cost even more money).

An ERP-System is not a quick fix! It takes time for an organization to change their processes and procedures in order for them to fully integrate with the system; this means more training and new hiring practices will be necessary as well.

Conclusion

As you can see, there’s a lot to consider when choosing an ERP-System. That’s why I always recommend that you talk to an experienced partner before making any decisions. I am happy to help you with this process!

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Resources ⚡️

Link 1: terillium.com/erp-system-selection-criteria Link 2: erpfocus.com/ten-essential-erp-selection-cr.. Link 3: visualsouth.com/blog/erp-selection-criteria Link 4: erpadvisorsgroup.com/blog/erp-software-sele..