You’ve completed the rounds of ERP software demos for your business. Now what?
Now is a good time to pause. Sit with the power-user colleagues who attended the (hopefully) in-depth demos with you, and get some clarity on all the information you gathered.
After all, this digital transformation is a high-stakes project for your manufacturing, distribution, or agri-food business. You’re looking for a cost-effective ERP solution that meets your list of requirements, fits well with your industry’s specific needs, and is easy-to-use.
As the project leader, you want to check-off all these boxes and have peace of mind about your selection before you sign on the dotted line.
To support your clarity and peace of mind, we propose the following questions to discuss with your team. Better yet, we’ve also offered answers!
1. Have you stayed focused on your list of requirements for ERP software?
Your potential ERP system providers should have given you demos that showcased the features and operations you requested. These requests stem from the upstream work you undertook when you sat with the power-users of your team, mapped your processes, and defined your specific needs.
This upstream work is essential for creating the list of requirements that will guide your search for a new ERP solution. This list should also rank your requirements as “must-have,” “nice-to-have,” or “not now, but in the medium-term.” With this list in hand, you’ll find it easier to make the right choice for your business.
If you’d like to confirm that your checklist covers all the bases, take a look at our guide, “Choosing Your ERP: The Essential Kit,” by clicking on the image below.
2. Is this a big-enterprise ERP solution disguised as an ERP system for small and medium-sized enterprises?
You may have attended demos by global brands for so-called “business versions” of ERP systems originally designed for large enterprises and multinationals. While this software may be efficient, it burdens businesses in several ways:
- Designed for large teams, this ERP software is more complex to implement and configure.
- This ERP software offers the bells-and-whistles (and expense) of very advanced enterprise-level features that your business would not find useful.
- The software’s complexity requires an IT staff and budget to manage. For most businesses, this is not an allocation of resources that delivers a return on investment.
In contrast with these ERP systems, Fidelio, developed by Commsoft Technologies, is a cloud-based ERP solution that from day one was exclusively dedicated to the needs of the business. Fidelio’s functional richness is built for the sales volumes of growing businesses with several business locations (e.g., factories, distribution centers, offices, etc.), some of which may be located beyond international borders.
This rich feature set results from our 20-plus years of experience in the manufacturing, distribution, and agri-food sectors. We know the best practices of your industry because they’re what we live and breathe every day.
3. Are the cloud-based ERP solutions targeting startups and very small enterprises?
You may also have tested some low-cost ERP software. Understandably appealing at first sight, these cloud-based ERP solutions (sometimes marketed as “freemium”) may offer a platform that seems to be the right fit for the business you are right now.
| Remember, your ERP is a mission-critical tool that will support your growth for years to come. Today, your business team may be made up of twenty or so employees. But where will you be in five or ten years?
Your ERP system should have a functional richness that enables you to scale your business easily and flexibly. Typically, these basic cloud-based ERP solutions do not have the information processing capacity to accommodate the sales volume and organization you’re planning for.
Beware of hybrid ERP systems
Other basic ERP solutions for businesses package together the modules of several software developers. In these products, the software at the heart of the ERP “system” may be some accounting, or inventory management, or CRM solution, to which other independently created modules have been grafted for extra functionality. In other words, this is not an integrated, all-in-one ERP system like Fidelio.
You might ask yourself, how well do these modules actually communicate with each other?
4. Will your ERP software be a cloud-based or on-premises solution?
The “on-premise” ERP is a legacy format originally developed with large enterprises in mind. You purchase a license once and the software is installed on your infrastructure. The upfront costs of these ERP systems were way beyond the budgets of most businesses.
That’s why the evolution of cloud-based ERP solutions has been such a great boon for small and medium-sized businesses. Residing totally on the Internet and maintained by their providers, the best cloud-based ERP software enables your business to:
- Leverage all the advantages of an ERP, with little upfront investment or IT infrastructure. Furthermore, you don’t need any IT staff to look after maintenance, update management, security, and data back-up and recovery, which is taken care of by the provider.
- Offer your team anytime-anywhere Internet access to your ERP system. As a result, your salespeople, technicians, and delivery staff on the road as well as your team working remotely enjoy flexible effortless access to your ERP system to support their productivity.
Fidelio is 100% cloud-based ERP software accessed through a browser, which enables the platform to be compatible with any number of computer devices.
5. Is the cloud-based ERP software truly integrated?
As we noted above in section three, some ERP systems for small and medium-sized businesses are, at heart, amalgamations of independently developed software modules. Their intra-module synchronization may be questionable.
In contrast, Fidelio covers all your business functions — such as accounting, sales, production, e-commerce, human resources, to name a few — in modules that synchronize in real-time in a fully integrated ERP system. This all-in-one design helps minimize the bridges needed to third-party software, so that your team can easily carry out their tasks without leaving Fidelio.
What’s more, Fidelio connects seamlessly with all your specialized applications. You can even easily personalize your fields and your screens, without the help of an IT person.
6. Will your team find the cloud-based ERP software easy to use?
Like the home-gym equipment that now serves to dry your laundry, your ERP software may be abandoned by your team if it has not been designed for easy use.
An intuitive ERP system doesn’t require a lot of training to use and eases the change management process as your team quickly adopts this new tool for their daily tasks.
Fidelio’s cloud-based ERP system has an intuitive and attractive design that makes it effortless to work with, and minimizes the training it takes for your team to learn it.
7. How are ERP software updates taken care of?
All successful software evolves to meet customer needs, incorporate technological innovation, and adapt to a dynamic marketplace. So your ERP software should update in a timely way to help you meet these changing circumstances.
With Fidelio, software maintenance is entirely our responsibility. Our updates are simple, automatic, and scheduled for the times that work for you.
8. What does cloud-based ERP implementation look like?
Implementation is a critical part of your digital transformation, so it’s important that you be clear on how much support your provider can offer. Some questions you may want to ask your potential provider:
- What part of the implementation process will they handle?
- How will development and bridges to other software be invoiced?
- What kind of support do they offer after deployment (webinars, documentation, phone support)?
Fidelio’s implementation team has worked with manufacturing, distribution, and agri-food companies for 20-plus years, so we’ve seen every situation imaginable. Our objective is to transfer our learning to your team so you can work independently after we leave your building. As you grow, we’ll always be available to work side-by-side to help you meet your goals.
9. Are your costs easy to figure out?
Sometimes ERP software pricing can be a little obscure, with hidden costs and variable pricing components.
That’s not how Fidelio operates. Fidelio is easy to buy. Just like a subscription to a publication, Fidelio has a straightforward monthly fee that covers use of the software, hosting, and the service agreement. For more information on our fees, click here.
When you choose Fidelio, you choose ease-of-use, innovation to support your growth, and performance that supports the achievement of your business goals.
To book your personalized online demo today, click here.
.svg)
