An ERP demo is scheduled for tomorrow and erp vendors will be arriving to convince your company that their company has the better mousetrap.   An ERP (enterprise resource planning software system) package is business software designed to bring together functionality and data throughout a company.  ERPs are used to make internal and external transactions and vendors who sell these software packages provide potential buyers with an ERP demo with hopes of gaining a customer.

ERP Software

So You’re Having an ERP Demo…

Traditional ERP’s like SAP and Oracle provide demos, both passive and interactive.  Often, they provide an ERP demo that allows your IT department hands-on privileges to provide a fuller experience of what it is like to use their product and demonstrate the power of their respective tools.  It is likely that the ERP demo began sometime before the full on meeting and that technology types have been playing with the application prior to today’s demo.

As SaaS (software as a service) provider is also being considered as a part of your company’s ERP strategy.  As with the traditional ERP providers, your technology staff has been testing the waters with demo packages.   The hosted options will also be presenting their pitches today and have been wooing your technical staff.

Traditional ERPs have the highest upfront costs.  Hosted erp solutions require higher licensing fees from the outset but generally require less in terms of maintenance fees, SaaS is the lowest in initial cost but requires hardware and maintenance and other incidentals.  That being said, the ERP demo is a valuable tool for evaluating the functionality and fit of the software package itself.  The ERP demo is designed to show the customer the technical capabilities of a product.

When it comes to functionality, the large traditional packages have the deepest bench.  They also have the biggest price tag.  The ERP demo will show off the superior functionality of the product but all that ability comes at a premium price.  Consultants are not inexpensive but are often necessary to obtain the desired result.  SAP is a modular system and while it is possible to pick and choose modules, this gets very expensive as module often require other modules in order to work. Oracle is configurable too but like SAP customization costs go up as programmers work the craft to configure the system to maximum benefit.

Hosted systems will function as demonstrated for the most part but only as demonstrated as the functionality of hosted software is often approached from a one-size fits all perspective.  What you see is what you get and that works fine as long as what you see is all that you want.

SaaS might be the most flexible. It can meet the needs of a company and is quite flexible.  As the company grows, SaaS can grow with it and the demos are designed to illustrate the point.  However, maintenance and support costs can add up so the buyer must be very specific in negotiating the SaaS contract.  Additional costs can drive the numbers close to those of a traditional system over time.

Armed with awareness, enjoy the show.  The ERP demo is a valuable tool in evaluating an ERP system.

Written by :

tracey boxer