Improved business intelligence, speeding up the order-to-cash cycle, and increased productivity - these are just a few reasons businesses invest in ERP systems. However, you’ll need to justify the ERP price with a solid ROI projection to secure funding. A business may want a new ERP system for various reasons, such as boosting productivity, enhancing business intelligence from improved data capture and analysis, speeding up the order-to-cash cycle, and cutting labor costs. However, with other units also needing budget allocations, ensure the expense is justified both now and in the future. One effective way to do this is by quantifying expected returns through an ERP ROI report. This will help align ERP benefits with financial expectations, ensuring stakeholders see the value.

One of the biggest pitfalls in any tech investment is the potential to be oversold. While accounting, financial management, and inventory management are essential for most businesses, not every company needs a CRM module or a B2C commerce interface. To calculate the right ERP budget and invest wisely, choose only the features that you need. There could also be features that you don’t need today but might need in the near future. For example, you might not need multi-currency or multilingual capabilities in your financial module right now, but if you are soon to be launching in new markets, it could be cheaper to include these features from the outset rather than having to retrofit later.

Installation costs for ERP systems vary widely based on factors like infrastructure readiness and customization. For on-premises solutions, auditing your current systems is crucial to understand the full cost of ERP implementation.