How to select an ERP?

Choosing an ERP is a strategic decision that has a profound impact on the company's business and organization. It involves a significant investment in licensing, consulting, infrastructure and support, and undoubtedly involves considerable internal effort during implementation. With the increasing familiarity of the word ERP among managers, it is crucial to understand its functionality and scope.

When looking for an ERP, having the experience of an expert is essential. Juanma Chueca, partner at PKF Attest Tecnología, shares his valuable recommendations based on his more than 25 years of experience in ERP selection processes. Here are his tips to ensure a strategic and wise choice.

Keys to ERP selection

Aligning long-term strategy

When a company decides to select a new ERP, it is important to ask itself questions such as: are we going to internationalize, are we planning to expand to other activities, is there a growth plan in place, etc. The strategy will condition the possible solutions, it is not the same to be a national company than an international one, to grow 1% than 30%, the market options will be transformed according to the strategic vision and the future.

Establish causes of change

Identifying the reasons for change is crucial. The most common include internal management dysfunctions, repetitive processes and unsupported or outdated systems that have become too small.

Create an internal selection team

It is necessary to involve the general management and also the area managers, whose knowledge contributes a lot of value to the process and will be key in the implementation. Making Solomonic decisions and not involving the management team leads to not knowing important details and forcing the management team to push.

Have a detailed catalog of functional requirements

Perhaps the most important! The company must compile the needs to be met with the new ERP, classifying them by criticality and importance. It is required to describe as best as possible the process and the need for automation that I am going to ask the software. If there are no resources to do this exercise, an experienced consultant as PKF Attest helps to elaborate this list, reduce risks in the decision, clarify the needs of the project and be part of the scope of the ERP project.

Selecting ERP solutions adapted to my company

ERP options should be considered in response to aspects such as: company size, functional capabilities covered by the ERP, software evolution and continuity, industry experience, service partners, availability of Cloud or on-premise software or both, software technology, integration capabilities with other systems, software customization possibilities, national and international scope, BI capabilities, etc.

Choosing the consulting firm that implements the software

The choice of the consulting firm that will implement the software is often more important than the ERP technology. My advice is to avoid vendors that implement directly and opt for those with an ecosystem of partners.

Any ERP you select must have an ecosystem of partners or formed partners that provide services, such as Microsoft, Salesforce, Sage, etc. Evaluating the consulting firm in terms of turnover, employees, financial health, success stories and integration capabilities is essential.

Taking care of the entire pre-sales process

I recommend that in the selection process you focus on solutions and consulting firms whose selection team is available, attends the process, is proactive and gives continuous feedback.

From my point of view it is important to focus first on the ERP technology, the check-list and then see the demonstrations of the solution. I advise that these presentations are always preceded by meetings where the needs of the company are informed so that an agenda is well focused. Once the ERP platforms are selected, the technological partner that will accompany me in the project is chosen. It will be important to understand our needs and aspects such as approach, scope, methodology and project team, deployment model. If we have to make an exercise of homologation and uniformity of proposals, the idea is to have a standardized scope where we analyze: dedication, team, calendar, guarantees, support, etc.

Closing the contract

It is important to close an agreement with the maximum guarantees that the scope of the project and the economic closure of the investment are fulfilled. I have experienced processes in which the contract had many specifications and abusive clauses that have been detrimental to the implementation. In this case, the subsequent project becomes a control of the contract rather than a common project for two companies. If you are not sure it is better not to close a bad agreement, this type of alliances have a duration of more than one year and you will always go through complicated moments, an ERP is certainly one of the most complex projects to carry out.