Sam Gupta

Author name: Sam Gupta

Sam Gupta has been a thought leader in the digital transformation space for nearly two decades, with the primary focus on business software. Sam is rated as #1 thought leader in the ERP and CRM categories and #5 in the digital transformation category on Thinkers 360. He is also among the top 100 thought leaders across all categories. He has been part of large transformation initiatives for fortune-500 corporations but now spends his time consulting with SMEs as a Managing Principal at ElevatIQ. Sam regularly speaks at industry conferences and contributes his experiences through many popular blogs and publications. He is always open to chat about technology and digital transformation topics on LinkedIn or Twitter. Don’t hesitate to contact him.

ERP System Evaluation Checklist: Questions to ask your ERP consultant

Leave a Comment / Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Blog, Chemicals, Consumer Goods, Distribution, Food and Beverage, High Tech & Electronics, Industrial Manufacturing, Life Sciences, Retail / By Sam Gupta / July 18, 2020 March 26, 2025

ERP implementations could be frightening, especially for small-sized businesses with limited implementation budgets and experience. While most ERP systems appear alike, they are distinctly different, designed to support specific business processes and transactions. They might also appear alike as each term could have multiple meanings depending upon the context, requiring careful evaluation of your requirements.

Additionally, it is important to build a target operating model and vet thoroughly and comprehensively with the process and data model of a target system. While ERP system evaluation checklists such as the one below could help to some degree, they require substantial experience in interpreting and contextualizing them. But here are some of the common questions relevant to ask your ERP vendors and resellers.

ERP Selection Requirements Template

This resource provides the template that you need to capture the requirements of different functional areas, processes, and teams.

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Publisher

While you might not pay as much attention to the questions related to publishers, as your focus is likely to be on the product and functionality. But with an ERP system, there are several factors related to publishers that drive whether you will be successful with the ERP implementation or not. So questions related to the publishers are critical for your ERP system evaluation checklist. Some questions that you should think of including are below:

Who built the original product? Some popular ERP vendors include SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, and Infor.
What is their customer base like? If they carry several products and if their flagship product may not target businesses comparable to your size, you might not get the same attention. The attention that you would get from a vendor whose primary customer base is similar-sized to yours.
How large is the company that has developed the product? What is their market share in ERP products?
What is the financial standing of the publisher? Are they profitable as of today?

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Product

The questions related to the product are likely to be on your ERP system evaluation checklist. But you might not have all the macro-level questions, such as product install base, which is equally critical for your ERP selection. Some questions that you may want to include are below:

Have they designed the product for your industry? Does it contain the last-mile functionality needed for your specific micro-industry?
How many successful installations does the product have?
How many times has it been installed for your specific industry?
What is the customer base like? Are 80% of the customers similar-sized to yours? The product customer base is equally important as the publisher’s customer base.

Customization

Would there be any add-ons involved? You may need to ask specific questions, such as who owns the code for each add-on. And review the contract.
How much customization would be needed to support your unique processes?

Pricing

How fluid and easy their pricing model is? Is it per-user, consumption-based, or concurrent?
How much did the price increase in the last 5 years?
Is the vendor able to lock down pricing for 3-5 years?
Do they offer monthly payment options?

Roadmap

Can the product support all of your business models and processes as of today but also in the next 5-7 years?

Data Ownership

Who owns the data?
Where is the data stored?
Is the vendor friendly enough to let you export the data or provide access to it when you need it?

ERP Selection: The Ultimate Guide

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Mobility

Can the product be used across devices? Mobile, tablet, desktop. If yes, is the experience consistent across devices?

Licensing

Would there be a tier where your instance will be hosted? If so, do you need to upgrade to more expensive tiers if you grow out of the smaller tier?
Would there be any storage limitations?

Ecosystem

Is the talent ecosystem developed enough if you need to hire an internal expert or change the implementation partner later on?
Are there enough companies developing add-ons if you need additional features that may not be provided by the publisher?
Are there open-source communities and enough help available publicly for your users in the future?

ERP System Scorecard Matrix

This resource provides a framework for quantifying the ERP selection process and how to make heterogeneous solutions comparable.

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Implementation Partner or System Integrator

How do they price their services? Fixed Quote, Time and Material, or Recurring Service Subscription?
How long have they been in business?
How many customers do they have on this product?
Are they allowing you to talk to the project lead who will implement the project?
What has been their attrition rate in the last 5 years?
Would there be a change in the project team or consultants once the project starts?
Would the consultants be working onsite or remotely?
Can they provide local support if needed?
How much would they charge for post-implementation support? Do they have a packaged offering for unlimited support?

The importance of CRM Systems

CRM systems come in various shapes and sizes, some primarily dealing with marketing automation workflows while others specialize in downstream transactions. Depending on the business model, the needs of a CRM system could vary. But regardless of your use cases, a CRM system is critically important because of the following reasons:

Customer Acquisition. CRM allows you to track the activities of your prospects when they engage with your brand or content, regardless of whether internal or external channels. This makes personalized content easier, helping with research and customer journeys. All in all, these strategies will help improve your conversion rate.

Customer Retention. CRM also helps nurture relationships with your existing customers and prospects, keeping their memories refreshed with brand updates and key activities. So your brand is at the top of their mind when they might be in the market for your product or service.

Customer Experience. Because of the consistent customer view across different departments, internal employees operate on the same data. This allows consistent messaging and seamless interaction, adding substantially to customer expereince.

Customer Insights. Data collected through multiple channels is stored in appropriate hierarchies, allowing insights at every touch point, whether transactional insights or to support macro-level decision-making.

Territory Planning and Allocation. CRMs also allow teams to maintain their workspaces without conflicts, recording interactions and activities and making them available for other teams. It helps sales leadership align territories with various permission sets, whether they prefer complete visibility into the entire account base or partial visibility.

While these are just some of the core benefits, a CRM suite helps companies manage their customer-facing channels with omnichannel traceability and experience.

Wrapping up!

Most CRM systems are more of the platforms requiring substantial consulting help unless the sales and marketing processes are relatively straightforward. Selecting a CRM system requires carefully evaluating the needs of each stakeholder, creating an as-is and to-be process model, and validating that with the capabilities of the target system.

While some level of customization might be possible, assuming that they are infinitely scalable might fire back, locking yourself in a long-term contract without generating much business value. Hiring an independent CRM consultant to manage the selection and change management could be one way to mitigate these risks.