With many software selections, people spend a lot of non-value-added time looking at software features that really do not differentiate the software vendors from one another. Honing in on those features that make you unique as a company and set aside the various software vendors are the key decision points you should look at.
For example, every software system should be able to do an A/P voucher, but how many of them can do multiple business units cost allocations on that voucher? The key is to focus in on those things that set your business apart in the market you serve.
Part of the key to a successful selection is determining the specific requirements of the business and then look at them from the perspective of “does everyone in our industry do this, or is it unique to us?” Is it something that sets your business apart and is it something that you should retain for business competitive advantage?
To understand more about this, take a look at this article that defines how one person defines the requirements set:
Bring your ERP projects in in 50% of the time, budget
Over the years, we CIOs have learned a lot about ERP initiatives. Many of these lessons have come the hard way — after costly, time- and company-consuming projects left us scrambling to find benefits to justify the costs. If you ask almost any ERP (or CRM or SFA or BPM or whatever) project manager what, in hindsight, they would do differently, the answer is usually the same:
“Do not customise the software!”
In spite of this advice, each time an organisation starts an ERP (or CRM or SFA or BPM or whatever) selection and implementation project, the going-in assumption is that the software must handle the unique aspects of the business.
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