“I set up Greenbeam Consulting because I knew that organisations frequently don’t have the experience, or the time, to choose and implement new software that fully delivers on their investment. I heard too often from companies about costly business systems that simply didn’t do that.
Companies often expect their IT support to choose the right solution and implement it. Of course IT Support needs to be involved, but business systems are mainly about people and processes, not PCs and networks. Software suppliers will manage their implementation tasks, but not normally those of their clients – and there is usually a lot of work that needs to be managed by the client. But if the software you’ve chosen doesn’t do what you need it to do, no matter how well the project is managed, it won’t be enough!
That’s why the services that Greenbeam provide are so important – making sure the right software is chosen and the project well managed, so the system delivers the anticipated benefits and returns on investment.
because we provide clarity, guidance, support – and hopefully smiles at the end!
However, it is important to remember that a reference site can’t help you with assessing whether the system will do what you need it to do – unless you have something specific you need to see in action that the supplier can’t show in a sales demonstration. An
The best way to use a reference site is in the final stage of the selection process when you, assisted by your chosen independent ERP consultant, have narrowed down your choices to just one or two systems. The things that you can learn from a reference site can help you to finalise which system and supplier to go for.
Ideally, what we really want are reference sites that are in a similar industry to our client, are of a similar size, have a similar customer base and are geographically located in a similar area to our client – in order to get the best comparison. We start by asking some questions of the reference site in order to understand how similar they are to our client’s situation. Our years of experience have taught us that although reference sites may look similar to our client on the surface, they may turn out to be quite different once you start digging – so we always ask suppliers to provide 3 reference sites similar to our client.
We have a checklist of questions that we go through when talking to a reference site. These include questions about the company, what parts of the software they are using, the technical environment they are working in, how they have found the support they received from the supplier – both during the implementation process and when they were up and running, and other general questions as well. This is to ensure we have all the information we need to ensure that the solution our client picks is the right solution for them.
is key to determining whether a solution is right for your organisation or not, but the ERP selection process doesn’t end there. Finding out the vendor’s customers’ experiences after the sale is crucial to the success of your implementation and so should be conducted with as much diligence as the rest of the process. The only way you can discover what to expect from your chosen vendor after the sale is to talk to existing users, and this will help ensure you have made the right decision in the long-term.