For some Manufacturers and Wholesale Distributors, the thought of engaging an Enterprise Resource Planning consultant is a daunting prospect. What they fail to realize, however, is that the right ERP consultant can minimize ERP risk, accelerate the deployment process and increase the success and value of your ERP project.  That’s because the right ERP consultant is more than just highly skilled third-party provider. With an in-depth understanding of how to structure, upgrade, and monitor a company’s ERP system to ensure that it runs smoothly and reliably, the amount of money saved can far exceed the investment.

 
Still not convinced? Here are the top five reasons you should consider engaging Enterprise Resource Consulting to help with the ERP selection and implementation processes.

 
Making sense of the complex: With its complex interfaces, layers of configuration, and robust capabilities, an ERP system can be difficult and expensive to implement. Consider the cost of a failed ERP implementation. There are many examples of businesses who committed a number of years, and a lot of cash to their ERP implementations. Companies need the expertise of professionals that have done it before to really help accelerate a project and get the system up and running sooner.

Making an investment to cut costs: ERP vendors may recommend that you retain their IT consulting services, but think twice before signing on the dotted line. Vendors command much higher rates, but that doesn’t mean it has better skills to manage the project. You will want the vendor to make the programming changes necessary to customize the software for your business, in order that it remains fully supported. But project management is better handled by the right consultant, and usually at around half the hourly rate!

The right ERP consultant can also help you save money in ways a vendor can’t. Enterprise Resource Consulting will often able to negotiate a lower cost for its clients during the software selection process. We can save our clients multiple times our fee just in negotiating with the vendor. It’s all about understanding how they make their money.

An objective opinion: The vendor’s account rep and your people may be partial to an ERP system, but it’s imperative that you hear an objective opinion. An independent opinion, well-versed in the industry and specializing in ERP can be invaluable. But not any consultant will do. It’s important to have someone who’s not in a financial arrangement with any of the software vendors, because you want to find the software that’s right for you — not the one that the consultant is obligated to recommend. Enterprise Resource Consulting is completely independent.

No more blame game: You’re bound to encounter a few bumps along the road to a complete ERP implementation. These can lead to finger-pointing among IT leaders, managers, and C-level executives. Handing ERP implementation project management over to Enterprise Resource Consulting, however, reduces the risk of blame-game theatrics.