8 Steps to help ease your ERP software selection process:

STEP 1: WHAT DO I HAVE?

STEP 2: WHAT DO I NEED?

STEP 3: UPGRADE OR REPLACE

STEP 4: NARROW THE FIELD

STEP 5: DEMO

STEP 6: PROPOSALS

STEP 7: NEGOTIATE

STEP 8: IMPLEMENT

STEP 3: UPGRADE OR REPLACE

Upgrading

If you haven’t upgraded your ERP system in the past three years and the developer of the system is still around, you should consider upgrading the current system before you assume that replacing it is the best course of action.

Pros:

  1. Normally, upgrading requires less training of your staff.
  2. Data conversion is usually simpler when upgrading.
  3. Upgrading is likely to cost less than licensing a new system.
  4. Interfaces to existing 3rd-party products are more likely to exist.
  5. If you’re considering a new system because the current system is lacking functionality, a newer version may have that functionality.

Cons:

  1. The quality of your support is unlikely to improve.
  2. Although you should be getting new functionality with every upgrade, you’re not likely to get revolutionary new functionality.
  3. Usually when you purchase and implement an ERP system, new and more efficient business processes are implemented. It is less likely that any benefit will be realized by upgrading your existing system.

Additional Considerations:

  1. To the extent that you have 3rd-party interfaces on your existing system, you need to make sure a new version or interface is available in the upgrade.
  2. An in-place upgrade may be very disruptive, since you may have to upgrade overnight and wake up the next business day with a new system.
  3. It is likely that you will still need to purchase new server hardware.
  4. It is possible that you will still need to upgrade some or all of your workstations.

Replace

Usually you’re going to determine that this is the best long-term answer. Your business has probably grown, as has your need for functionality in a system. In fact, your existing ERP system may not even be available anymore.

Pros:

  1. A new, properly implemented ERP system can provide you with timelier and immensely more informative information for everybody in your organization.
  2. A properly chosen new ERP system will likely have much better support than your older system.
  3. The transition to the new system can be done in an orderly manner, spread out over time rather than a “big bang” implementation overnight. It will be easier to run the systems side-by-side for a period of time, if desired.
  4. New and more efficient business processes are likely to be implemented with a new system.
  5. Fewer interfaces to 3rd-party systems are likely to be necessary.

Cons:

  1. Licensing a new system will almost certainly be more expensive than upgrading.
  2. More training will be involved in implementing a new system versus upgrading your old system.
  3. Data conversion will require much more effort than what is usually required when upgrading an existing system.

< Step 2: What Do I Need?

Step 4: Narrow The Field >