ERP costs you need to consider before choosing a solution

ERP costs you should consider before choosing a solution

You need to scale your business, but process inefficiencies continue to be a constant roadblock.

You’ve had conversations with your leadership team and know you could see great cost savings by automating with an ERP for small businesses.

The challenge you could be facing is accurately estimating the ERP system costs and getting your team on board with it. There are a ton of intimidating costs associated with an ERP implementation – hardware, software, training, and additional support costs are just a few.

If you underestimate ERP costs, you could get stuck in the middle of a project that can’t move forward due to a lack of funding. On the other hand, if you overestimate, your team may reject the budget before the project even begins.

Before getting the green light on an implementation, you need to decide which pieces of an ERP will contribute best to your business goals – being sure to explore and justify all necessary ERP costs.

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You have to spend money to make money.

There’s no avoiding the reality – implementing a cloud ERP is a significant investment. But that shouldn’t hold you back from your big plans. At the same time, it’s crucial to do your homework. Not all ERP costs are obvious. We know this after years of experience implementing NetSuite ERP systems.

The good news is, we’ve done this enough to know how to help you determine which ERP components and what pricing model will work best for your business – and show you how to start planning your budget accordingly.

Before deciding on a solution, here are some ERP costs you should consider.

Direct ERP costs

When you begin exploring all ERP system costs, your budget will most likely have many of these tangible costs:

Software licensing fees
Cost of hardware
Customization, if your business requires it
Transfer and testing of your new ERP system
ERP transition
Post-implementation support

All of these costs won’t necessarily apply to your budget depending on the complexity of your solution, but they are a good starting point when it comes to planning.

It’s important to keep in mind that some ERP costs will be hidden, and there’s one set of costs that can be easy to overlook.

Internal project costs

Not all costs are as tangible as you’d like them to be. One ERP cost that is often forgotten is the internal cost for the project. If you get the “go ahead” to move forward with an implementation, you’ll likely have to designate a person or a team of people to make sure it’s running smoothly.

Your team already has dedicated day jobs and varying degrees of bandwidth to add to an ERP implementation. There isn’t a lot of extra time in the day to be extended past normal tasks, which could cause problems. What many people forget is how much time a cloud ERP implementation can truly take.

You may be stuck paying overtime to compensate for the extra time spent, or even worse, your team could be focusing less on their day-to-day and more on the implementation process. Though it’s difficult to measure, you can’t afford a lack of productivity.

We recommend backfilling roles to oversee the implementation process. Start by pinpointing which team members will need to set aside additional time and make sure they’re able to stay on top of their roles. From there, you can determine how much extra help you may need to hire out.

Depend on a NetSuite implementation partner that goes the distance.

We’ve got an implementation model for every need. And when you need continued NetSuite support, you'll still be talking to the same Crowe team you started with.

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Once you see your return on investment, the ERP costs won’t seem so daunting.

While it’s important to have a complete understanding of your budget for an ERP implementation, it can be hard to focus on the positives when all you’re seeing is costs.

Yes, it may cost you money. But remember the amazing benefits that led you to start this journey toward automation in the first place:

Integrate your entire business with improved visibility and efficiency.
Improve your confidence in purchasing decisions with accurate, real-time cost reporting.
Quickly access powerful accounting information and forecasting with the touch of a button.
Save money and transform the productivity of your employees with the automation of mundane tasks.
Delight your customers with live tracking and automated order updates.

You’re not alone in this process. We can come alongside and show you the ropes to make sure there are no surprises.

Want to know how?

Tips and tricks ERP selection

Interested in learning more?