Switching ERP is one of the biggest interventions a business can make. Every area is affected, every employee has to relearn, the data has to move, and for a while many things run more slowly than before. It pays off when the system itself is the problem. It does not pay off when the problem lies where the ERP stops - because then it is right back after the switch, just in a new program.

This guide helps you tell the difference: five reasons that are often given and usually do not hold, four that really do, and a simple way to find the difference in your business.

Five reasons that are not reasons

“Shop, warehouse and accounts show different figures.” That sounds like a poor ERP, but it is usually a missing or unreliable connection between the programs. Orders come from the shop as an export, stock is reconciled by hand in the evening, invoices go to accounts as a file. A new ERP has to be connected just the same, and if the connection is missing again, the figures will be wrong again. How to solve it properly is described in the guides Stopping double data entry and Connecting your online shop and ERP.

“Our costing runs in Excel.” Many businesses cost, approve or plan by rules of their own that no standard knows: surcharges per customer, approvals above a certain size, production with its own steps. These workflows end up next to the ERP, in lists and mailboxes. A different standard ERP knows your rules just as little, and after the switch the same list sits next to the new system. What helps is an application of your own for exactly this workflow, connected to the ERP where possible.

“Nobody finds their way around the system.” Cumbersome screens, too many fields, permissions nobody understands: that is often down to the setup, not the system. Many programs can be configured so that each role sees only what it needs. Add onboarding that is more than an afternoon at the start. Roles, views and good training change more than a new program that everyone has to learn all over again.

“We do not get proper reports.” The data is usually there; it just does not come out in the form management needs. Often what is missing is a report someone sets up properly once, or access through which questions can be asked in everyday language. Most systems can solve that without being replaced. The guide Reports and dashboards from your ERP shows how.

“The master data is a mess.” Duplicate customers, old items, wrong prices: a new system takes over this data - and the mess with it. You have to clean up either way, and before a switch it matters most, because otherwise the errors carry on in the new system. Cleaning up often shows that the old system was not the problem at all. More in the guide Master data in one place.

Four reasons that are

There are also signs where a switch is the right call:

  • The vendor is ending support. No updates, no changes for new regulations, no help with faults. What to do then is in the guide ERP support is ending.
  • Your core workflows do not fit. Not a special route at the edge, but the work you earn your money with cannot be mapped in the system, and it can no longer be adapted. Then the work alongside it grows with every order.
  • Only one person still knows the system. If they are away, the business waits. This applies especially to in-house systems that have grown over the years.
  • New requirements fail again and again. A second site, a new sales channel, a new obligation such as e-invoicing - and every time the answer is that the system cannot do it.

Further signs are described in the guide Signs that your system is at its end.

How to tell the difference

Follow a real order from receipt to invoice. Note every point where it leaves the ERP: a list, an email, a phone call, a second program. Then ask at each point: is it the ERP - or what happens between the programs?

If most points lie between the programs, you need connections, not a new ERP. If they lie in workflows of your own that no standard knows, an extension next to the ERP helps. Only when the ERP itself can no longer keep up is switching the right route. The system check gives a first assessment in eight questions, and our ERP guide is a detailed decision aid with comparison tables.

When you do have to switch

Once it is clear that the ERP can no longer keep up, the switch does not have to happen on a single day. It is usually better to move area by area: the area under most pressure comes first, the old system keeps running for the rest, connected through an interface where possible. That keeps the way back open, and the business never stands still.

This is the route we take with ElbDesk, the foundation we build on: sign-in, permissions, collaboration and documents come with ElbDesk, and your own workflows are added area by area. Our page on replacing old systems shows what that looks like. Which steps an implementation goes through in general is described in the guide How an ERP implementation works.