Considerations to make alongside your utilities ERP software

Energy and utilities organizations have been undergoing massive transformation in the last few years. Successful companies need the right enterprise software to mitigate risk, offer resilience, and provide flexibility and relevance.

An ERP selection process often focusses the mind on the software only, and all too often the softer issues are missed. Here are 5 key considerations which are just as important as the software itself, and that if ignored, will in time be a mistake that you’ll wish you’d never made.

• Roadmap - Are vendors who don’t publish a roadmap for the next couple of releases hiding something?
• Statement of direction - Do you know the strategy of your vendor in terms of technology and functionality?
• Safeguarding - How safe is your implementation when undertaken by a partner, and who will pick up the pieces if it goes wrong?
• Partners - A partner implementation quite often results in cost savings as consultancy rates are often lower, but what is the vendor partner relationship?
• Product Lifecycle - Are you buying an end-of-life product or a solution from a vendor who has multiple offerings that it has acquired over the years?