The right business management software, often called Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP software, will streamline your operations, open lines of communication across the company, and offer keen insights into your operations. The key is to select the right software for your business – this is a critical decision. The point is perhaps best illustrated with a real-life scenario involving a business owner’s series of software decisions that didn’t yield favourable results.
Lesson learned the hard way
When Mr. Pots purchased his company in the waste industry 10 years ago, it ran with basic accounting software and spreadsheets. The company grew and he was soon shopping for business management software to run his operations more smoothly. After several demos of industry-specific programs, Mr. Pots selected one primarily based on the fact that the company was Canadian and nearby in case he ran into problems. Unfortunately he did. “I just didn’t trust some of the numbers in the reports,” he explained. “Plus the software was built on old technology and couldn’t scale to our evolving needs.”
Looking for a cutting-edge alternative to his outdated software, Mr. Pots commissioned a young, dynamic company from Quebec to tailor its product, designed for the transportation industry, to his needs. After more than a year and $40,000 in upfront service work and monthly fees, he decided to abandon the product. “We never did go live with it,” he said. The India-based contract programmers ran into extensive problems porting data from his old system and, at the same time, they struggled to adapt the software to new mobile platforms. Despite the fact that Mr. Pots had already installed the vendor-recommended GPS systems in all of his trucks, they switched platforms.
In his next ERP software venture, Mr. Pots went with a low-investment solution from a small company – that came at an unexpectedly high cost. This Florida-based vendor claimed that its ERP software integrated seamlessly with Intuit QuickBooks for accounting. Unfortunately, Mr. Pots soon learned that a solution based on products bolted together from different vendors is problematic. “They just didn’t have the staff to maintain and support the software,” he explained. Updates were not well tested so a ‘fix’ would often lead to other problems and workarounds, and technical support was lacking. “It was costing us an extraordinary amount of time to do even simple tasks like billing, and we were finding far too many errors,” said Mr. Pots
Ron Mondor, President of Zantek Information Technology, says this kind of solution chasing is far too common. “ERP software is an integral part of your business so selecting the wrong product and vendor can have a serious impact on your daily operations. It puts you in crisis mode,” he explained. Mr. Pots agreed and added, “When we encountered a problem, we jumped to another product but we just took on another problem.”
In his final ERP selection, Mr. Pots spent considerable time assessing his business needs and thoroughly researching potential products and providers. He offers these lessons learned to help you avoid costly mishaps and go straight to the software that’s best suited to your business.
ERP software selection checklist
- Involve your management team early. Even if you don’t agree, it’s wise to consider opinions from various areas of the company. Getting buy-in from the stakeholders is critical.
- Make a list and check it twice. Document must-have and nice-to-have functionality so you know what you need and don’t get sold on slick features that don’t add value.
- Drive the demos. Don’t get wooed by a slick sales demo – ask vendors to re-enact your business scenarios and do step-by-step walkthroughs of your daily processes.
- Plan ahead. Explore how the software can scale to your future needs as your business evolves (e.g., new markets / currencies, additional products, more locations, e-commerce).
- Call references. Talk to current customers (ideally ones who converted) about their experiences with your must-have features and ask pointed questions about problem resolution.
- Test training and support services. Review the training materials and contact the vendor’s support staff prior to purchasing to ensure response times are satisfactory.
- Ask for a product roadmap. Your vendor should be able to tell you what’s planned in software updates and how many they do each year.
These tips will put you on a path to selecting the right vendor and software for your business. When it comes to implementation, Ron offers one final bit of advice. “Start with the must-have features and, once the software is fully adopted across the organization, add nice-to-have features from your list. A phased approach provides for a much more manageable transition.”