AcumatiCaresChoosing paper towels is easy. You examine your options based on a small list of criteria: volume, softness, absorbency, price. Evaluating ERP systems? Not so much. It can feel extremely overwhelming to be tasked with researching and selecting a new platform for your business to use. Often different products claim to offer such similar features that it gets very confusing trying to parse out the differences. Choosing a new platform is costly, so much scrutiny is given to the selection process and final decision. The stakes are high, too. Choose the wrong paper towels and you’ll have a chance to do better in a couple of weeks when they run out. Choose the wrong ERP system, and your business will be affected for years.
Due to these reasons and many others, we’ve put together a free comparison checklist you can use to evaluate the merits of multiple ERP systems. The checklist is customizable: you can fill it out, placing priority on whatever features or benefits are most important to you, and then easily compare multiple companies
5 Categories Evaluated by the Checklist
The comparison checklist helps you stack ERP systems against each other and evaluate them in five key areas:
- Productivity: How will it increase your productivity?
- Functionality: What features does it offer?
- Technology: How does it leverage technology?
- Value: How does the product’s lifetime cost compare to what you’re getting?
- Risk: How does it minimize risk and facilitate security?
The checklist is built to clear up confusion by laying out the benefits under each of these categories in a clean, easy-to-read format. Acumatica’s benefits are already listed; you simply have to add the names of other companies to the appropriate column and check whatever benefits their ERP offers. There’s also a column where you can check the items most important to you (and give that item a more weighty consideration than others).
For example:
- Under productivity, you might prioritize an ERP system that allows you to work and print documents in multiple languages, removing the language barrier between you and your customers.
- Under functionality, you might prioritize an ERP system that combines neatly with your CRM in a single database.
- Under technology, you might prioritize the freedom to move between on premise and cloud deployments, as your needs change.
- Under value, you might prioritize an ERP system that only charges you for what you use instead of by user count.
- Under risk, you might prioritize an ERP system with exceptional backup and disaster recovery capabilities.
Choosing a new platform is a big decision and one that shouldn’t be made lightly. We won’t hide the fact that no matter what your priorities are, we believe Acumatica’s Cloud ERP will fulfill them. At the same time, we understand the importance of gathering all the information you can, pitting benefits against each other, and making a deeply informed decision. That’s exactly why we put the comparison checklist together.
Tired of wading through separate articles and trying to remember what you’ve read about each system? Download the evaluation checklist now and start comparing ERPs in one, neatly structured document. Better yet, register for Acumatica Summit 2017 in sunny San Diego, happening January 29 through February 3. You’ll get direct access to our product and leadership teams, and they’ll be able to assist you with assessing which ERP platform and structure would best fit your business needs.
