How to Choose The Best ERP for Your Business?

How to Choose The Best ERP for Your Business?

Business corporations wishing to develop their business and make more profits usually head to implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system at their workplace. However, this aspiration is usually accompanied by a fear that such a step requires a huge investment of capital, energy, and time. Well, the fact that implementing an ERP system is costly is undeniable, yet the benefits gained by the program are astonishing and unprecedented. From streamlining the workflow, offering close management over every work operation, to cutting expenses, the Enterprise Resource Planning Framework gives companies a quantum leap.

Moreover, with the help of an ERP system, you can overcome any obstacles your business is facing such as weak productivity, delays in communication, sales and delivery issue, etc.…

However, when selecting an ERP for your business, certain factors need to be taken into account to avoid the mistakes usually made while choosing an ERP solution. 

Let's check together with the most significant mistakes and considerations to think of when choosing the right software for your business.

Top things to consider while choosing ERP

Set your priorities

There are several types of ERP systems in the market. Each one of them has its own pros and cons; therefore, before making up your mind on an ERP, you need to thoroughly think about what you need from this software and set your priorities. Actually, you must be aware that the program you are choosing will have a big effect on your business in both the short and the long term, so a meeting with key users and executives from various business departments helps in prioritizing and incorporating every business need. This in turn reflects the quality of implementation outcome. 

The success of an ERP solution is not only limited to how successfully it got implemented. Rather it depends on other factors as well, such as how the software will act in the future following the company workflow and how far the users got used to it, and if they were able to convert the inputs into efficient results in the form of improved efficiencies, enhanced revenues, reduced expenditures, profitability, faster ROI ... 

In addition, you may find yourself confused between an integrated ERP solution and a best-of-breed app solution. Your choice should be made according to the scale and structure of your company, the challenges that your organization is trying to address, and the opportunities that your organization is trying to seize.

For example, if you're a small, medium-sized enterprise with a limited budget and restricted spending strategy, then picking integrated management software could be of great help. Since such type of a system would help you smoothly perform your business processes and increase productivity at a reduced cost and with lower capital.

Whereas, going for a best-of-breed software solution entails wide knowledge of both database constructs and business regulations. This is because the ERP system has to keep working in harmony to ensure that all your data is reliable and correct. 

Choose the Right Vendor

Another important factor that guarantees a successful ERP implementation is the wise choice of your service provider. Many businesses tend to hire freelancers over authorized service partners to perform their implementation process to cut down some expenses. However, the percentage of success cannot be guaranteed with a freelancer for several reasons. 

While choosing the right authorized vendor means you will depend on a well-experienced implementation partner in various industry fields, thus can better respond to your business requirements. You will also need to check the Industry-specific knowledge, functional and technical expertise of the ERP implementation partner you are hiring. In other words, choosing a good licensed ERP vendor guarantees you having successful implementation and post-implementation services.

Also, go for a long-term relationship with your implementation partner to assure the growth of your business in the coming phase.

Speed and Agility

Businesses nowadays are in a fierce competitive state, and they are on an unstoppable run; therefore, if the ERP fails to meet the desired speed, it will fail to achieve your business goals on time. Also, business organizations sometimes get stuck with the slow-motion shown by the ERP service provider and this will have bad effects on your business rather than otherwise. 

Although the demos introduced by the ERPs can give an idea of how the software works, they fail to offer the genuine capacity of the ERP. Therefore, the best method to evaluate the true capacities of the software solution is to run a trial instance by yourself. There are many ERP service providers like Odoo, who provide end-users the trial instances which can keep running for two or three weeks or a month. In such a situation, business organizations can go for the real test and check if the speed is sufficient.

Total Cost of Ownership

Cloud ERPs are the most prominent, popular, and effective ERP types today. Opting for cloud ERPs can significantly reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) of the organizations owning it.

Finding out the TCO for an ERP before putting it into effect is something every organization must do. 

TCO and ROI are interrelated.  An attractive TCO will likewise get your ROI sooner and will make it look much better. Cloud ERPs can guarantee to get a sound ROI within months.

Moreover, integrated business management software has a different TCO than best-of-breed software arrangements, so your choice will affect the TCO. If your business requirements are relatively restricted, then going for an integrated ERP arrangement over best-of-breeds can lower your total cost of ownership. While using separate best-of-breed arrangements can majorly add up to the license fees and implementation costs and also minimize your overall working performances. When implementing a best-of-breed software arrangement, you may also not be protected from version outdating, which can add extra costs in the future.

Test your Software before going live

It is a common mistake not to run a test when hiring an expert ERP implementation partner. In fact, testing the software before going live greatly helps in discovering any mistakes or misunderstandings that may hinder the process. Addressing the problems found during the testing procedure before going live will boost the capability of your new ERP software. It is important to test all your data, systems, and procedures before the software launch. 

Data Migration

Data migration is a significant step to be done through the ERP implementation process. Data act as the backbone of any ERP and neglecting it may bring great risks to the business. A big percentage of migrating a system lies in migrating the data. 

ERPs come with multiple data structures or tables and require mapping activities to migrate the data correctly. Therefore, when selecting an ERP implementation partner, you should choose a partner who has a variety of skills in performing data migration such as data profiling, cleansing, transformation, and other migration techniques. Documenting the migration processes at both functional and technical levels is also recommended for further reference.

For more info concerning ERP and implementing it, you can contact us at info@boraq-group.com. We – Boraq Group _ can happily answer all your questions and implement Odoo ERP for you.  Boraq Group has long years of experience in all Odoo ERP modules such as CRM, Manufacturing, Accounting and Purchase, Sales, Warehouse Management, E-commerce, and Website. Our highly skilled teams of developers and consultants will provide you with a smooth, worry-free ERP implementation process and long-term support after it.