3 Questions to Ask an ERP Implementation Consultant Candidate

Implementing an ERP solution at your company can lead to an immediate transformation. But the quality of the impact is ultimately contingent on the quality of the implementation. For that reason, it’s important to carefully vet any ERP implementation consultant candidate before making a commitment. The following are three questions that it’s imperative to ask during the interview:

“What breadth of services are you prepared to offer?”

The whole reason you’re bringing in an ERP implementation consultant is because you lack necessary skills and expertise in-house. A typical ERP implementation involves many facets – site surveys, system configuration, testing and training, etc. If your chosen candidate cannot help you with all of those facets and tailor their approach to the unique needs of your organization, then you will either be forced to seek out additional assistance or risk a subpar implementation. Make sure that your candidate can help you with the widest breadth of services, and be sure to verify their claims.

“How well do you understand business processes?”

An ERP solution may be a technical tool, but its ultimate goal is to support the needs of your business. Simply introducing a solution without also analyzing and reconfiguring your business processes, represents a waste of time and money. Your chosen ERP implementation consultant should be able to help you with all the technical aspects, and also help you streamline and optimize the way you conduct business in the context of your new ERP solution. Someone with technical expertise alone will only be able to solve half of your problems.

“What kind of ongoing support are you prepared to give?”

The implementation is only one step of the process. Once your ERP solution is in place, it’s inevitable that you will face technical problems, require additional resources/training, need to reconfigure your system, or seek out new capabilities. When these issues arise, what kind of support is your consultant prepared to give? Will they continue to offer support years down the road, and what will they charge for this service? Are they only available during business hours, and are they prepared to travel to your site? These are all questions that you need answers to if you want to avoid major headaches down the road.

You can’t ask the right questions if you don’t first find the right candidates. Access an impressive pool of established ERP implementation consultants by working with The Squires Group.


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