5 things to look for when upgrading ERP software

So you are ready to replace that old, creaky ERP system and move to the 21st century?  Then here are 5 things to look for when upgrading your ERP system;

1.  Budget – A brand new system is a significant investment. What is your budget?  One school of thumb is a company will spend between 1.5 and 3% of one years total revenue on a new system – that’s software, hardware and services.  Yes that’s a lot!  Good think you only have to do this once (if you pick the right package…)  In the last few years, we have seen Cloud ERP systems really catch on.

2. Benefit vs. Risk – Of course upgrading your systems can be like swimming with the sharks - gnarly.  Even with a SaaS based implementaiton there is risk.  Though if your business is growing, it’s better to do it sooner or later.  Let’s face it, the bigger you get, and the more people you have working, the harder it gets.  Putting in a new system allows you to manage and control the growth.  Check out our case study on a cusotmer who doubled without adding any internal staff.

The benefits of surfing far outweigh the risks. Shark!

3. Information– Are you getting the information you want in real time?  If not, you have a problem.  New systems can give you what you need at a click of a button.  With pretty graphs and everything.  And the data is current, in real time.

4. Adoption – Are your users happy with the current system?  Do they complain a lot, or are they resigned to entering data two, three and four times?  Growing, successful business change.  Period.

5. Efficiency – Is your time being optimized?  An ERP system is built to improve your business and free up resources.  How many systems do you have “talking” to each other?  I bet they all speak different languages too…which means you aren’t getting what you want, and what you do get takes a long time.

We’ve learned these lessons from ugprading hundreds of uers from Microsoft Dynamics GP, QuickBooks and Sage, among others.

Time to go swimming with the sharks.

Aloha,

Loloa Mike