The Role Of ERP Consulting Service: Key Offers & Selection Guide

ERP consulting services - Do you need them?

An ERP project is more complicated than just taking a look at it. From analysing business operations and selecting the top list to implementing and conducting maintenance, each stage requires thorough planning on humans, technology, and finance.

In this reading, we’ll tell you the most significant values of hiring ERP consulting services and 10 basic offers that they should bring to the table.

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Why Most Businesses Seek ERP Consulting Services

ERP consulting services play a huge role as reliable companions for businesses to navigate the complexities of ERP projects. Here are four of the most valuable offerings by these service providers:

Value 1: Minimised hidden costs & budget overruns

Not just on technology, implementing an ERP system is a significant financial investment in other business areas - which is why hidden costs can easily eat up your budget. These are the percentage of businesses that experienced budget overruns in ERP projects in 10+ years (a study from Statista):

There has been a decrease during the period, but the number fluctuates as they have risen since 2022, and no businesses would want to get stuck in this situation. Cost overruns are commonly the result of poor upfront planning and unpredictable challenges.

Fortunately, ERP consulting services help you bring cost estimation to the table, including resource allocation, vendor negotiation, and realistic budget setting. These initiatives also help to avoid abundant costs down the line by pre-identifying implementation complexities and factors in maintenance. Only with careful financial planning can you get a more holistic view.

Value 2: Fewer complexities of ERP selection

The ERP market is booming. According to Fortune Business Insights, It is expected to grow from over $81 billion in 2024 to over $200 billion 10 years later, alongside numerous ERP vendors available for you to choose from. Moreover, ERP systems cater for different business industries and models, functionalities and features: 

If you’re going on this trip alone, it is no doubt a challenge to choose a system that aligns best with your business. That’s why ERP consulting businesses are available to bring their expertise to the table:

• Simpler vendor selection: Help prioritise and shortlist the best vendors based on your specific requirements by industry, budget, specialised processes, and more.
• Less complex technical scenario: This is even more valuable when you’re not familiar with complex software architecture. Each ERP solution has distinguished functionalities and the ERP consultants will guide and explain the technical aspects in detail, clearly and understandably.
• Free demos & Proofs-of-concept (POC): These consulting businesses provide you with free demos of the shortlisted ERP solutions. They are able to do that because of their partnership with vendors and the permission to organise these demonstrations. This allows you to see the ERP in action and its compatibility with your business.

Value 3: Less common ERP implementation pitfalls

According to Gartner, up to 75% of global ERP implementation projects fail ERP implementation projects involve multiple and complex processes. These include workflow creation, data and systems integration, process engineering, and user adoption. Only one small misstep can result in expensive delays and bottlenecks, and the pitfalls commonly are:

• Poor data migration: Inaccurate data migration results in system errors and reporting problems. This is where ERP consulting businesses step in and help you develop a comprehensive data migration strategy to ensure data accuracy and seamless integration.
• Lack of user training: Initially, your team members can struggle to adapt to the new technologies. Here, ERP consultants will create customised training programs to help equip your teams with the right knowledge and skills to use the ERP.
• Ineffective change management: Not only a lack of skill but resistance to change will be also a huge problem in your ERP project. Therefore, you need ERP consulting businesses to help you plan for change management, communicate the goals of the new system, address concerns and encourage user adoption.

Value 4: Exploiting the full potential of the ERP system

An ERP system can only transform your entire business operations with proper configuration and ongoing optimisation. If not, it is difficult to leverage its full potential features. The true values lie in the effective use of the ERP, but many companies only reach its basic functionalities. Here is where ERP consulting services step in.

• Optimise system configurations: The ERP experts help you customise the ERP that aligns effectively with your specific business workflows. 
• Develop other system integrations: They also assist you in establishing connections and enable data flows between the ERP and your business applications.
• Implement advanced features: ERP systems also offer upgrades and advanced features, so ERP experts often help businesses adopt these changes and unlock more value

7 Must-Have Offers of Any ERP Consulting Service

ERP consulting service providers are diverse in industries and expertise. However, they all offer a comprehensive set of services designed to guide your organisation through a successful ERP project. Here are the most common and most included 7 key services that any ERP consulting business should showcase:

No.1 Business Analysis

This stage is where you build the foundation for the entire ERP project and the consultants work closely with your business departments. The goal is to reflect on your current business processes, identify areas for improvement, and specify your requirements and objectives for the ERP. Three basic activities are:

• Business Process Mapping: This is used to visually map your current business workflows that help identify bottlenecks and opportunities for future improvements.
• Fit Gap Analysis: The gap analysis is conducted to identify any discrepancies between your current workflows and your chosen ERP capabilities.
• Data Analysis: This is conducted to assess your data quality and integrity that contribute to the success of the ERP implementation.

No.2 ERP Vendor Selection

After understanding your current business scenario, the ERP consulting business will move forward with the vendor selection process. This commonly involves:

• Help shortlist and make a list of top vendors that have the most suitable offerings for your requirements.
• Organise demos of the prioritised ERP solutions and guide you through the whole process.
• Help evaluate vendor proposals to choose the best fit and negotiate pricing to get the best value for money.
• This might be helpful: A 3-Stage Roadmap for Strategic ERP Vendor Selection.

No.3  ERP Project Planning

When you have selected the vendor, ERP experts will help you thoroughly plan for the implementation with key activities such as:

• Project Scope: Here they help you outline the details including the required functionalities and modules for the implementation. This is also to ensure the project is within budget and schedule.
• Resource Allocation: You must give your key persons (the internal teams) specific roles and responsibilities in the project to ensure every aspect meets all the requirements.
• Project Timeline Development: The experts will help you create a detailed timeline to ensure timely implementation.

No.4 System Integration & Configuration

Your current applications, i.e. accounting software, CRM, and others, must be integrated with the ERP to prevent data silos. Here are the key activities that ERP consulting businesses help you achieve this:

• Map Data: Experts will help map your data fields to guarantee consistent data flow between the ERP and other applications.
• Develop Integration: This is the process of generating new code or using pre-made API integration solutions to connect different systems and share data.
• Configure the ERP: Configuration is to match your specific workflows and customise functions if needed.

No.5 Testing & Quality Assurance

Before launching the ERP system, careful testing is required to ensure precise workflows, data quality, and ease of use. What consultants commonly do are as follows:

• Module Test: The experts will test each ERP system module separately for functionality and data integrity. This is known as unit testing.
• Integration Test: This step makes sure that data and communication flow between the new ERP and your business apps run smoothly.
• User Acceptance Testing (UAT): Before the launch, your key users will be requested to test the system and give feedback to avoid potential flaws.

No.6 Change Management & User Adoption

An ERP implementation makes changes to how your teams work. ERP consulting services should include support for mitigating resistance and user training:

• Training Strategy: They help you create an effective communication strategy to inform your employees at every stage. Training sessions must also be included and based on user roles in the new system.
• Change Management Strategy: Here you can work closely with the consultants to create a strategy that solves your team's resistance.

No.7 Ongoing Support & Training

Your journey continues even after the system is launched. ERP consulting services also offer ongoing support:

• Help Desk Support: These ERP service providers give you technical support when your operations run into problems: using the system, function errors, bug fixes, and more.
• Advanced Training: You can ask for extra training on the ERP system's upgraded features and functionalities.

10 Important Notes in Choosing A Strategic Service Provider

To successfully go through every project stage and effectively use the ERP, we recommend making the right choice of an ERP consulting service. Here is a summary of the 10 most important conditions found in a great ERP consulting service: 

If you make it this far, we hope you have recognised the significant role of ERP consulting services in ERP implementation projects. If you are running an Aussie business that is looking for a certified ERP service provider, have a small chat with our experts on your current business situation.

References:

• Statista (2024). Percentage of enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation projects overrunning budgets from 2011 to 2023
• Fortune Business Insights (2023). The global Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software market size
• Gartner (2010). ERP Implementation: To Avoid Project Failure, Assess the Impact of Change Before Starting Configuration