How to Find the Best ERP Consultant and ERP System to Implement

Posted by sophiamilller on August 19th, 2013

Whether you’ve purchased an existing business or whether you’re building your operation from the ground up, you could benefit from hiring an ERP Consultant to help you implement an ERP system in order to help get your business organized. If you’ve experienced significant growth in recent quarters, or if you’ve projected a significant growth in the following quarters, you’ll need to make sure your company is well-prepared for everything that growth and development brings along with it, which means you’ll need to get organized—and fast. But, ERP—or Enterprise Resource Planning—can sound incredibly obscure to blossoming entrepreneurs, so you’re likely to have a relatively hard time finding the best ERP systemand ERP solution provider for your business. Keep reading to see how you can make your search a little easier by using handy online tools.

First, some basic information about Enterprise Resource Planning—rolls right off the tongue, doesn’t it?—to help you get started and understand how it can help you achieve your short-term and long-term goals alike. Enterprise Resource Planning is an information system which is meant to provide each department in a business with a common framework and database of information to refer back to. ERP is a one-stop solution to manage business processes and data, because it covers many areas like: Accounting, Manufacturing, Human Resources (payroll, training, and time sheets), Supply Chain (purchasing, scheduling and stock management), Project Management, CRM (customer support, marketing and sales) and Data Warehousing.

The problem is that, while the concept of ERP is a one-stop solution, its implementation isn’t. You don’t have the handy option of referring to a universally-applicable ERPsystem or software solution that would work for any company at all—and whoever tells you differently is probably trying to sell you something. You need to customize your ERP implementation to your businesses’ specifications and requirements, if you want to achieve the best results possible. But don’t let your knowing this inconvenient truth bring you down or make you think you’ll never find the right ERP system for your company.

You’ll be happy to know that, though ERP implementation and consultancy is indeed a niche market, you can still find plenty of online resources to help with your search and with your research on the topic as well. There are certain online companies which provide potential customers with lengthy profiles or success stories of ERP consultancy projects, systems and implementation processes. If you’re looking through a number of different approaches which have all proved to yield positive results for the client, then you get a better chance of finding a company like yours profiled on the website.

When researching ERP system options or different consultants, your best chance is to find something with a proven record of success when applied to a business similar to yours. While you can never get a 100% guarantee when working with Enterprise Resource Planning systems or consultants, you can at least increase your chances by employing a solution that’s been proven to work in your industry niche before.

See how to do your research if you’re looking for qualified ERP Consultants and/or reliable  ERP system solutions to implement in your business, and get organized to help your company grow.