There’s no avoiding the reality – implementing a cloud ERP is a significant investment. But that shouldn’t hold you back from your big plans. At the same time, it’s crucial to do your homework. Not all ERP costs are obvious. We know this after years of experience implementing NetSuite ERP systems.
The good news is, we’ve done this enough to know how to help you determine which ERP components and what pricing model will work best for your business – and show you how to start planning your budget accordingly.
Before deciding on a solution, here are some ERP costs you should consider.
Direct ERP costs
When you begin exploring all ERP system costs, your budget will most likely have many of these tangible costs:
- Software licensing fees
- Cost of hardware
- Customization, if your business requires it
- Transfer and testing of your new ERP system
- ERP transition
- Post-implementation support
All of these costs won’t necessarily apply to your budget depending on the complexity of your solution, but they are a good starting point when it comes to planning.
It’s important to keep in mind that some ERP costs will be hidden, and there’s one set of costs that can be easy to overlook.
Internal project costs
Not all costs are as tangible as you’d like them to be. One ERP cost that is often forgotten is the internal cost for the project. If you get the “go ahead” to move forward with an implementation, you’ll likely have to designate a person or a team of people to make sure it’s running smoothly.
Your team already has dedicated day jobs and varying degrees of bandwidth to add to an ERP implementation. There isn’t a lot of extra time in the day to be extended past normal tasks, which could cause problems. What many people forget is how much time a cloud ERP implementation can truly take.
You may be stuck paying overtime to compensate for the extra time spent, or even worse, your team could be focusing less on their day-to-day and more on the implementation process. Though it’s difficult to measure, you can’t afford a lack of productivity.
We recommend backfilling roles to oversee the implementation process. Start by pinpointing which team members will need to set aside additional time and make sure they’re able to stay on top of their roles. From there, you can determine how much extra help you may need to hire out.
