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When you’re shortlisting ERPs for your food processing SME, what key features should you look for?

Your team, of course, is consulting your list of requirements. But remember, as a food processing SME, you have special operational requirements. So you want to make sure your shortlisted ERPs have the particular features essential to supporting and simplifying growth in your industry.

Your company president sees the cloud ERP implementation you propose as a cost, an expenditure that will reduce the SME’s bottom line.

But as the financial leader of the company, you clearly see it as an investment, an outlay of capital and labour whose ROI will significantly increase the productivity and value of the business.

So to move the company forward, you need to build a business case for your boss. The following discussion offers a broad outline of the areas to look at in your business when building your case.

Your SME is growing nicely.

To support your growth, you’re considering simply upgrading the accounting system with which you’re managing your business, e.g., QuickBooks, Xero, or Sage 50cloud.

You’ve heard, of course, of the business benefits of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. You understand that ERP systems deliver a lot of powerful functionality — which you would love — but they seem a bit pricey and involve a months-long implementation process.

Investing in an ERP system is the biggest IT investment your food and beverage SME will ever make.

So understandably, as a financial leader in your business, you might be a little uneasy about how to select ERP software that’s right for your unique SME.

That’s why you’re looking for a structured, low-risk roadmap to ERP assessment that will lead to successful ERP implementation.

Looking for the right ERP system for your small or medium-size enterprise (SME) can be a little daunting.

After all, you’re looking for answers and you’re not even sure you’re asking the right questions.

So this post should go a long way to putting your mind at ease. Even if you’re new to the world of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, we believe that by simply asking the right questions you can navigate your business to a successful ERP implementation.

Your growing SME is hurting for an ERP system. 

It’s hurting your business not having visibility into your operations. Not getting reliable real-time information instantly to support your decisions.  Not automating so many repetitive manual tasks. 

But with hundreds of ERP systems out there, how do you start the ERP software selection process?  

We propose the following nine must-have criteria to start your selection process. If your software meets these, you’ll be well on your way to building a more resilient, responsive, and productive business.