This second phase of ERP Guide is the “RESEARCH PHASE” and is critical to the outcome of your project. Now all the gathered documentation in Phase 1 – Goal Setting will be put to best use when researched properly on next steps of execution. 

Things to keep in mind while researching for the right product & partner: 

• Your organization’s goals should be the first priority as the best one out there need not necessarily be the right one for your company.  
• Be open, understand the solutions required for your organization  

• The right mix of product and partner is crucial as ERP implementations are like marriage partnerships. 

Product & Partner Research Tips: 

Step 1: Reach out to peer organizations to identify a list of products and partners they are currently using and get their feedback. Questionnaire to get the right feedback: 

• Which product is currently used? Why did you pick this product?  

• Which partner did the implementation? Why did you choose this partner?  

• Was their implementation approach phased and professional?  

• Was the initial commitment delivered by the partner’s team? 

• Did they have industry expertise before your implementation?  

• Were they process-oriented and helped in improvisation of the processes?  

• Did they help in digital adaption of business and have road-map for continuous improvements such as customer applications, bank/e-commerce integrations etc.  

Step 2: Do your own research and filter top three partners based on previously identified list.  

• When you Google for product/partner, please skip the ads on the top and select the first 2 pages of partners for your research and review their websites  
• Connect with each of them to understand: 

• Core Business Offering – Are they doing only the product you are looking for or have other products that are more important for them?  
• Language/Regional Competency  
• Cultural Alignment  
• Industry Expertise 

Step 3: Reach out to software suggestion platforms to review the product/partner list. 

Review Platforms – Software Suggest, SelectHub. The primary business of these platforms is to source vendors and find the right fit for your software evaluation. Be aware of junks as they would also tend to provide you as leads to different vendors. 

Must-Do:  

These are non-negotiables and must be checked for, during the research phase: 

• Start knowledge gathering research initially with an open mind  

• Stick to 5 top vendors and only 2 top products as more than this would lead to confusion 

• Ask for product maturity (number of years and number of customers using the software), scalability (integrations, adherence to govt regulation) & road map (future of product) 

• Ensure that the sales pitch is aligned with their delivery. Beware of over-selling in ERPs. 

• Study and understand the deployment options available for the products selected such as on-premises, Cloud, Hybrid etc.  

Don’t-Do: 

• Don’t engage partners at the detailed level right now, have the flexibility to disconnect from any partner while doing research  

• Do not ask for price at this point, vendors will start to give pricing without understanding the full requirements 

• Do not engage with custom ERP vendors. The probability of this working is only 10% and there might be change required in software in a few years.