How to Choose an ERP Consultant (and Avoid a Bad One)

Picking the software is the decision everyone agonises over. Picking the people who implement it gets less attention, yet it matters more. A capable team can make an average ERP work well. A weak team can make any ERP fail.

Start with the shape of your project

Before comparing firms, be clear about what you're hiring for:

• Full implementation. Discovery, configuration, data migration, training, go-live and support.
• Rescue. A project that's stalled or a live system that doesn't work. This needs people who are comfortable reading someone else's decisions.
• Specialist work. An integration, a migration, a custom module, a performance problem.

Firms tend to be good at one of these more than the others. Ask which they do most.

The checks that actually work

Speak to two references, without the firm on the call

Ask the reference: What went wrong? How did they handle it? Would you hire them again for the next phase? Did the people you met in sales do the work? The answer to that last one is often revealing.

Meet the delivery lead

The person who scopes your project and the person who configures it should both be in the room before you sign. If the firm can't tell you who will do the work, that's information.

Look at how they talk about data

Ask them to walk you through a data migration they've done. Good firms talk about mapping, cleansing, trial loads, reconciliation and who signs off. Weak ones say "we'll import your spreadsheets".

Ask what they'd refuse to customise

Good consultants push back. If every request gets a "yes", you'll end up with a heavily modified system that's expensive to upgrade.

Pricing models, honestly

Very low quotes usually skip something: data migration, testing, training or post-go-live support. Ask for the line items.

Contract terms worth negotiating

• Code ownership. Custom modules and integration code should belong to you, in a Git repository you can access.
• Documentation. A customisation register and configuration notes as deliverables, not nice-to-haves.
• Exit. What happens if you change partner? You should be able to take everything with you.
• Acceptance. What does "done" mean for each phase, and who signs it off?

A note on independence

Some consultants only sell one product. That's fine if you've already decided on it. If you haven't, an independent firm can compare options without a quota attached. We're independent ourselves. We mostly implement Odoo but we're not tied to it, so we can say no when it doesn't fit.

Short checklist

• Two references, spoken to without the firm present
• Delivery lead met before signing
• Clear approach to data migration and testing
• Line-item quote including training and hypercare
• You own the code and the documentation
• Your team's time commitment is written down

If you want to see how we'd answer these questions, start with a free consultation or read how we run ERP projects.