A comprehensive list of questions to ask your prospective ERP provider

Finding the perfect ERP system that works for your needs is one of the biggest decisions you’ll make as a company. A lot of your experience will depend on the partner you choose to help you pick and implement the right option.

Here, grouped in broad categories, is a long list of questions to ask a prospective ERP partner. A few, many or all may apply to you. We hope you find this comprehensive resource helpful in making your choice. Most of these are generic questions that apply to all industries.

Strategy and Business Intelligence
1) What are the markers that this software will fit my business requirements?
2) Based on our technology and processes, what are we doing wrong that can be fixed with ERP?
3) What is our biggest efficiency opportunity, and how will ERP help realize it?
4) What kind of increased revenue should we expect with an ERP investment?
5) How will ERP play a role in our current approach to business decision-making?
6) Will your software help across the board or just with accounting?

User Experience
7) Describe your ideal customer.
8) Is your software set up to appeal to younger workers coming into the workforce now?
9) Is your interface visually attractive and easy to understand?
10) Are you an agile company – can we, as the customer, influence your product development for the future?
11) How easy is it to customize your software for our workforce without a custom build?
12) Does the software integrate with our other systems so our people can have minimal back and forth?
13) How many organizations are using the latest release of your software and what is the feedback?

Security and Costs
14) What are the terms of your warranty?
15) What safeguards does the software offer to make sure users can only access approved functions?
16) How does the system record user activity for compliance if needed?
17) How often is our data backed-up?
18) For remote storage, how is our data being kept secure and what are the protocols?
19) What is your pricing structure?
20) Is the pricing license-based?
21) What is your cost per license and do you offer volume-based discounts for more licenses?
22) Can we pay for what we need if we are only using a few modules?

Credentials and Resources
23) How long have you been in business?
24) What types of companies have you had experience with?
25) Have you done work with companies in our industry?
26) As a firm, how do you encourage innovation and disruption?
27) How do you set yourself apart from the competition?
28) Tell us about your resources? How many full-time consultants do you employ?
29) What is the experience level of your people?
30) How many ERP installations have you done?
31) How many of your clients do you continue to support post implantation?
32) Do you have a support forum that we can access ahead of a decision?
33) How many references can you give us?
34) What are you NOT good at?

Implementation
35) How long will implementation take for a company like us?
36) What do you do to ensure your projects are on time and budget?
37) What is the scope of your implementation tasks? (get specific)
38) Can you introduce us to the actual people that will handle our implementation?
39) Can we talk to a customer for whom you are currently implementing?
40) What happens if we run into issues and delays – how will you mitigate?
41) Does your software allow for staggered implementation if we only need some modules now?
42) Can your software be implemented globally?

Training
43) Does training cost extra?
44) How many hours of training will the average user need?
45) How much of it is included in the implementation proposal?
46) In what formats is the training made available – face-to-face, webinars, etc.?
47) Do you have user forums for learning?
48) What types of user manuals are available?

Maintenance
49) How easy is your software to maintain?
50) What ongoing maintenance activities will our internal teams need to carry out and how regularly?
51) Do you offer 24/7 tech support – and in what formats? (email, chat, phone, etc.)
52) Where is tech support located and can you introduce us to the person in charge?
53) Do we have a dedicated point of contact for maintenance?
54) How often do you offer updates?
55) Can we get maintenance/support from outside of your company?

Scalability
56) Will your software be able to support our growth plan and any unexpected changes?
57) Do you offer a non-disruptive upgrade capability?
58) Can we easily add users to the system?
59) Do you have a higher level of the software for companies larger or more complex of process than us?
60) If we choose to upgrade to a different product in the future, does ownership of our data rest with us, and is it easy to migrate?
61) Do you offer an API for integrating with external add-ons?

Metrics
62) What markers do you recommend to measure ROI?
63) How do you recommend we measure increased efficiency, revenue, and adoption?
64) How soon should we expect to see benefits to the implemented system?
65) Will your support team be involved in our first post implantation metrics meeting?