5 steps to finding an ERP implementation consultant

In implementing an ERP system, whether the implementation succeeds or not — of course the ERP implementation consulting company the organisation has chosen plays a very important part. You could call it the organisation’s partner.

For an organisation looking for an ERP implementation consulting company, of course the organisation wants a quality consultant with working experience who can genuinely implement the system.

Looking for a quality consultant should follow these 5 steps:

1. Set the organisation’s objectives clearly

2. Survey for an experienced ERP implementation consulting team

3. Document the features you want from the ERP system, then compare them with the features the consulting company proposes

4. Hold a meeting with the ERP implementation consulting company you’ve chosen

5. Request a quotation, including the various terms and conditions

The details of each point consist of the following

1. Set the organisation’s objectives clearly

The organisation must have a clear objective for what it wants to implement the ERP for — what reason it needs to implement the ERP for the organisation.

For example, having a complex organisational management structure that leads to duplicated working steps and delays in work,

because the organisation’s people can’t use the same database, leading to too much time spent pulling up various reports, which results in executives being unable to make timely decisions on the problems arising at present, and so on.

If the organisation can set out its objectives clearly, it will be able to communicate with the ERP implementation consulting company with greater understanding.

So the organisation should analyse its own needs as clearly as possible, in order to set the details for talking with the ERP implementation consulting company in the way the organisation wants.

2. Survey for a consultant with working experience who can genuinely implement the system

The organisation can find an ERP implementation consulting company from many sources — such as on the internet, as well as asking partner companies or companies in the same network as the organisation,

by asking which provider’s ERP these companies use.

Once you have a list of ERP implementation consultants, don’t forget to check their track record to confirm they’re a consulting company with real work, which can be checked from reviews by customers who have used the service, or by asking companies that have used the ERP implementation service of the consultants on the organisation’s list.

So in finding an ERP implementation consulting company, besides having a list of several consulting companies, you also need to check information from customers who’ve used the service, as well as checking from credible reviews.

3. Compile the various features you want from the ERP system

In this part, the organisation has to analyse internally what its internal working processes are like and what its business processes are like.

To get the most detailed information in this part, there should be a team from the consulting company on hand to advise, so as to get information the consulting company can use to compare with the ERP system it already has.

Once compared, the ERP implementation consulting company can then say whether the ERP features the organisation wants will need to be customised, or can be used directly from the ERP system’s core modules, and so on.

4. Hold a meeting with the ERP implementation consulting company you’ve chosen

This step is a meeting in deep detail about whether the consulting company can deliver all the various ERP features the organisation wants, across every feature the organisation has drafted.

If it can’t be done and customisation is needed, can it be customised for the organisation?

In reality there’s no ERP implementation consulting company that’s 100% perfect.

So the organisation should analyse and look for the ERP implementation consulting company that can meet the organisation’s needs the closest.

5. Request a quotation, including the various terms and conditions

Once the deep-detail meeting is done, the organisation should request a quotation based on the features the organisation has set.

Whatever service fees the ERP implementation consulting company has, the payment terms should be clearly specified, so the organisation can analyse further whether it has the capacity to allocate budget for this part.

So once the deep-detail meeting is done, in requesting a quotation the organisation should also be able to analyse and assess for itself whether it has the ability to allocate the budget.

In this part, it may also be possible to negotiate some of the budget with the ERP implementation consultant.

In summary, in finding an ERP implementation consultant, the organisation should have clear objectives, then start looking for information on suitable ERP implementation consulting companies, then analyse the deep details together, in order to compare and analyse which parts the consultant’s ERP system can respond to.

And finally, request a quotation to see whether the organisation can allocate the budget.