Get These Ready Before You Take an ERP

Several businesses we have collaborated with, or have had presale discussions with, are primarily exploring multiple ERPs — their functionalities, what is there and what isn't.

But the real groundwork needed before that is what most companies fail to do.

It starts with questions.

Why do you need an ERP?

Instead of a typical "we need a system, we need to streamline," do you actually have pain points that an ERP can overcome? Are you able to document those, or is it just intuition?

Are you ready for an ERP?

Is the team at full capacity? Will they be able to allocate enough time for all the groundwork — process mapping, requirement analysis, and so on? If that's a no, it should be addressed, at least temporarily, before proceeding.

Have you done a change analysis?

Do you already have a standard process flow that is followed? Or is the process itself broken? If the process is being rewritten, there should be a brief impact study for change management.

Also, a manpower analysis. Can all the roles under the new process be covered by the current team? Will it require additional manpower?

What's the real ROI on time & effort?

Not the return on investment of money — the return on investment of time and effort. Every minute spent by a team member is a cost to the company on the ERP. Assess the return on that at the end: what will this requirement be able to give you back?

Do hosting & timeline fit?

The next choices can run in parallel with the ERP hunt, since the outcome of that can vary based on the ERP you choose.

For example, for ERPs like Zoho, self-hosting is not possible. If that is a real deal-breaker, the focus should be more towards open-source ERPs, or enterprise ones that support a local or own cloud server, like Odoo.

Similarly, timelines vary case to case. So a one-month go-live plan with an ERP that needs extensive customisation for your use case is not ideal.

Once these steps are past, the next steps will be easier. So document everything so far properly.

Now to the step of ERP selection…