Practice: ERP & Technology Read time: 10 min Published: January 2025

ERP selection is one of the most consequential technology decisions an organisation will make. It locks in architecture, vendor relationships, and operational constraints for 8 to 15 years. The quality of the selection process therefore matters enormously — not just the vendor selected, but the rigour of the evaluation that led to it.

Most ERP selections we have observed or been brought into after the fact share a common flaw: the evaluation was conducted primarily through vendor-led demonstrations, and the questions asked were the questions the vendor was prepared to answer.

Vendors are skilled at demonstration. A well-orchestrated ERP demo is a product of weeks of preparation, carefully curated data, and a sequence designed to showcase capability in the order that maximises positive impression. What you see in a demo is not what you get in production. The gap between the two is where ERP projects fail.

The Questions That Change the Conversation

The following questions are ones we use in every ERP vendor evaluation we conduct. Some produce useful answers. Some produce defensiveness. Both responses are informative.

Show us your three most difficult implementations in our industry in the last 24 months — not your showcase clients, your hardest ones. What went wrong, and how was it resolved?
Every vendor has showcase implementations. The ones with genuine depth can also describe their failures with specificity — and the process improvements that followed. A vendor who cannot or will not answer this question has either no relevant difficult implementations (meaning they have limited sector depth) or is unwilling to be transparent (which is a different kind of problem).
What is the realistic total cost of ownership at 36 months — including licence, implementation, customisation, integration, ongoing support, and the internal resource cost to maintain it?
Vendors lead with licence cost. TCO is the number that matters. Most enterprise ERP implementations cost 2 to 4 times the licence fee when implementation, integration, and internal resource costs are included. Require a detailed TCO model as part of the commercial proposal — and scrutinise the implementation cost assumptions carefully.
Which of the processes we have described today will require customisation — and what is your position on supporting customised code through future upgrades?
Vendors demonstrate standard functionality. They are less forthcoming about what requires customisation to match your specific process requirements. Customisation carries a cost at implementation and an ongoing cost at every upgrade cycle. Understanding the customisation footprint upfront is critical to accurate cost projection.
Who specifically will be on our implementation team — not titles, names — and what is their recent experience on comparable implementations?
The gap between the partner team presented at the selection stage and the team actually deployed on the implementation is one of the most consistent sources of client frustration in ERP projects. Ask for the specific CVs of the proposed project manager, solution architect, and lead functional consultants before signing. Build the right of approval into the contract.
What is your standard approach to data migration, and what percentage of data quality issues discovered in migration are typically client responsibility versus vendor resolution?
Data migration is the single most frequently underscoped element of ERP implementations. The answer to this question reveals both the vendor's migration methodology and their commercial posture on scope risk. An honest vendor will describe shared responsibility clearly. A vendor who places all migration risk on the client is signalling how they will manage scope disputes throughout the project.

The Questions Most Organisations Never Ask

The ERP you select will govern your operations for the next decade. The demonstration you see is 8 hours of carefully choreographed capability. The questions that matter are the ones that break the choreography.

  • What are the five most common reasons clients in our industry leave your platform — and what have you done to address them?
  • What integrations with our existing technology stack will require middleware, and what is the annual cost and maintenance overhead of that middleware?
  • What is the minimum internal IT capability required to operate and maintain this system post-implementation without your support?
  • Show us the post-go-live support escalation process — specifically, what happens when a production issue occurs at 11pm on a Friday?

Independent ERP Selection Support

We have evaluated 17 full-cycle ERP implementations and participated in 30+ selection processes. We have no vendor relationships and no referral revenue. If you are in or approaching an ERP selection, we can provide independent evaluation support that protects your interests — not the vendor's.

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