ERP solutions usually touch all aspects of your business: financials, distribution, human resources, product life cycle management, customer relationship management (CRM), purchasing, manufacturing, warehouse management, and decision-support. This very integration is the value they add. So making the best choice is critical.
Alison Diana over at ERPsearch.com offers some valuable advice on choosing an ERP solution that meets your company’s needs. These guidelines can help you identify what you really need in an ERP so that you end up with infrastructure that ensures your company will thrive.
Get it in writing
Gather the vital information into an RFP. Who are the executives that will champion this cause? What are the criteria that reflect your company’s needs? What are the high-priority issues? Where will the rubber hit the road? Think business processes, software requirements, features and functionality, business automation and intelligence factors.
Make things better
Don’t try to merely support what’s happening right now in your business. Instead, ask some questions to your managers and employees to find the trouble-spots that a good ERP match will help resolve. Integrations can help address exactly what your company needs.
Look to the future
You have a business plan that sketches out your growth. Map out the ERP capabilities to that plan. This helps you find an enterprise resource planning package that supports what you will be doing in 5, 10, 20 years.
Location, location, location
According to your culture, budget, and objectives, you can select the best option for setting up shop. It may be better to run the ERP software at your own location, have someone else host the package, or subscribe to a service.
Solicit other opinions
After using product demos to pick your short-list, check with people who are current customers of the finalists. Ask for the companies that most closely match your own, contact those businesses, and have a frank discussion about lessons they’ve learned while working with their ERP solution.
One step at a time
Getting the best ERP fit for your company is less like a race and more like a climb. Insist on careful attention at the planning phase, design phase, and implementation phase. And with a high-quality vendor, even the implementation can be extended in a phased approach.
Ready to select an ERP solution? Contact us today for a free demo to learn what aACE can offer you.
“I would challenge someone to find a software that functions as well as aACE does and incorporates the features needed across all departments.”
– Mark Fleckenstein, Vice President Operations, Vacutherm Inc.
