Road map for ERP evaluation criteria and selection

A Road Map For ERP Evaluation Criteria And Selection Process For SMEs

An Overview ▫

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Ask Yourself Signs you need an ERP What ERP does to your business ERP Selection/Shortlisting Criteria Vendor Evaluation Criteria Step-by-step ERP Selection Guide Conclusion

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Ask Yourself  Do you write reports manually? Or is the lack of available reports preventing you from making timely decisions?  Is your manufacturing business’ productivity subdued by your current system(s)?  Does lack of flexibility hurt your company’s ability to keep up with new and more complex business processes?  Does it get difficult to automate sales order, purchase order, control financial activities, handle costing or manage inventory?  Is your accounting software outdated or timed-out?  Are your employees, partners, and vendors unable to access company data over the web or via mobile devices?  Do you still struggle with compliance requirements?

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3 To any of the questions, if there is a YES, You need an Enterprise Resource System (ERP) Wondering how to go about finding the right ERP? Let us understand the step-by-step process here:

Signs your Business needs an ERP

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No quick/easy access to data

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Mismanaged inventory

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Higher bad debts

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Manual document generation

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Negative cash flows

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High dependency on individuals

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Unmatched financial transactions

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No streamlined processes

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What an ERP does to your Business?

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 Streamlines overall business processes, improves quality, helps retain customers and reduces the costs.  Removes manual data processing and provides real-time access of key data like financials, sales forecasts, inventory levels and holistic view of business operations.  Makes your business competition-ready.  Balances demand and supply through better planning and scheduling.  Fulfills your commitments on time and improves customer service.

ERP selection/Short-listing Criteria Evaluating

many ERP software and picking the right one amongst them is a challenging yet important task. A right ERP helps businesses grow with long term impact and improves productivity, where as a wrong choice can land your business in complete mess.

Lets us see what selection parameters you can possibly have for an ERP:

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ERP selection/Short-listing Criteria  Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)  Server and operating system  Features  Distance/proximity  Support & training  Vendor capability

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Step-by-step ERP Selection Guide

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To choose the right ERP for your business, here’s the comprehensive & step-by-step ERP selection steps– 1. Need Analysis: • Identify the REAL problems with your current system. List down the pain-points by analyzing the key necessities of your business.

2. Evaluation and vendor short listing: • Perform SWOT analysis for your core business needs. Find out the ERP matches that relate with your business and meet your budget.

• Contact your matches and ask for demo to check the features.

Step-by-step ERP Selection Guide Once you are thorough with evaluating the ERPs available in the market, list out all of them with prominent features and shortlist accordingly.

Now that you are done with shortlisting, the next step involves scrutinizing the shortlisted vendors.

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Step-by-step ERP Selection Guide 1. Vendor analysis .Get an in-depth vendor analysis done by hiring an ERP consultant or in-house team that can see the demos, quotations and assess them on multiple parameters. .Finalize the ERP vendor that fits your business needs completely.

Once you shortlist the vendors, you can evaluate them on following criteria : • What application area does the vendor cover ?

• How many clients does he have ?

• Does he have a structured implementation methodology ?

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Step-by-step ERP Selection Guide You can then shortlist final two or three vendors for following stages: • An open-minded conversation • Demo Presentation • Quotation Discussions & Final Talks 2. Pre-implementation scrutiny  Contact the vendor, ask for demos and other queries you have to ensure that your business goes in right hands.  Spend adequate amount of time in learning the software.

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Step-by-step ERP Selection Guide 3. Final decision  Once you come to the conclusion, negotiate with the vendor you have chosen. Make sure your pick is the best software to fulfill your business needs, implemented on time, within budget and has no bugs at all.

4. Deployment  Define the time-frame for the implementation and make sure the vendor sticks to it.

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Step-by-step ERP Selection Guide 5. Post Implementation Training and Support  Seek out for support plans by vendors.  Ensure the support available is 24x7 & uninterrupted.  Ask for solutions to the issues that you face.

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Conclusion

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With changing technologies and business landscape, ERP has become an integral part

of businesses. When it comes to any business, ERP Evaluation and Selection is a very crucial decision. It involves ample amount of time, cost and other resources to find out the perfect ERP that can fulfill all your business needs.

If you are searching for the best ERP software vendor, we could be of great help to you.

We, at BatchMaster, understand all your business needs and help you integrate all your business processes under one platform.

Be Sure & accurate with Batchmaster ERP software for your business

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Additional Resources Refer our White paper for in-depth study on evaluation and selection process of ERP for small medium enterprises To find out the perfect checklist for evaluating an ERP, visit us athttps://www.batchmaster.co.in/infographics/erp-solution-checklist.aspx Read our blog on the topic, How to Work with Overseas ERP Vendor To Contact us, visit www.batchmaster.co.in or email us at sales@batchmaster.com

About BatchMaster

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 30+ years of experience

 7 offices round the globe

 ERP solutions for small to mid-sized industries

 Available in 3 languages- English, Chinese, and Spanish

 SAP Business One and Microsoft certified solution  Over 40,000 users worldwide  Headquartered in California, with footprints across the world  A global presence with offices in 3 continents- North America, Australia, and Asia

 Original developer of formulation system in ERP  Consistent record of never exceeding implementation time of 350 to 500 hours