Are Apples to Apples ERP Comparisons effective?

What you may not be aware of ... 

Were you aware that evaluating ERP systems is one of the most difficult tasks a company ever takes on. Every ERP vendor spends hundreds of thousands of dollars making sure websites are compelling.  Every ERP sales demo appears to do everything, and they all look simple as pie.

An attempt to differentiate these complex systems, many potential buyers logically use a comparison technique called Apples to Apples (A2A). What you may not be aware of is this comparison is never quite as easy as apple pie and definitely not as easy as apples.

When evaluating complex items in the past (cars, capital equipment, etc) most of us define a logical functionality comparison. However, cars and shop equipment have a few dozen options to compare. What you may not be aware of is it that ERPs have hundreds of thousands of options to compare.

The first step in an A2A comparison is to document a list of critical and unique ERP requirements of ‘must haves’. Then send that list to all the ERP vendors you are ‘kicking tires’ with and ask them to confirm which features they accommodate. What you may not be aware of is when an ERP salesperson is asked if their software does fill in the blank they almost always say yes.

Let’s say you need shop scheduling. What you may not be aware of is that between ERPs there is no consistent definition of shop scheduling. When two systems say they both do it, they are likely describing completely different functionality. They might even be describing a completely alternative universe.

The second step in an A2A comparison is to use a baseline # of users and request all vendor’s pricing. The assumption is all quotes will be priced on the same criteria and variances will be obvious. What you may not be aware of is every ERP defines and counts users differently. What you also may not be aware of is that every ERP includes features that others list as ‘optional’ (aka cost extra), some do not even offer and vice versa.

When originally requesting approval for an ERP evaluation, many present their plan to upper management. Your A2A comparison plan makes complete sense to them because that is how they conducted capital purchases in the past as well. What they may not be aware of is that attempting to simplify a decision by using the ol’ A2A ERP comparison usually fails miserably.

There was a time when the abbreviation ERP implied a fully integrated end-to-end business system. What you may not be aware of is that today the acronym ERP has become so trivialized it is now an industry/pop culture term. What you also may not be aware of is that every business system software describes itself with the nickname ERP no matter what they do or don’t include. Standalone MRP systems and accounting only systems now claim the ERP moniker and, in their defense, they are able to demo 3rd party bolt ons that fill in any of their GAPs.

My Gramma always told me I should learn from someone else’s mistakes. Instead of an A2A comparison that results in a multitude of misassumptions, it might be better to visit companies that already use the same critical requirements you desire and learn from them. My Gramma would never place value on the yes/no salespeople answers completed in your detailed RFI questionnaires.

What you also may not be aware of is that it is not humanly possible to uncover enough by sitting through ERP sales demos that last a few hours. The human brain can only maintain focus for 10 – 15 minutes. Yet it takes months (if not years) to become fluent with any ERP. Most will not even know what their new ERP does not do until 12 mos after they buy.

What you also may not be aware of is to maintain a competitive advantage ERPs add more features year after year. The result is most systems today include way more functionality than any companies will ever utilize. So why are we so laser focused on making sure the ERP includes functionality that should be in all systems already? Could it be that the task of evaluating ERPs is so daunting and causes so much anxiety, that we rely on familiar evaluation strategies (that may not  help uncover the truths about ERPs)?

What you may not be aware of is that even though the A2A strategy requires an extensive effort to execute, it uncovers very little.

What you may also not be aware of is that ERP success is attributed 20% to software functionality. The remaining 80% is attributed to the System Integrator you partner with. Then why is almost 100% of our evaluation effort laser focused on:

1.       documenting a detailed list of functionalities,

2.       then having the vendor attempt to prove they accommodate all of it by reviewing numerous sales demos?

“If you fail to implement, why do you care how great the ERP looked during the sales demos?”