Ten Questions to Ask When Choosing an ERP

Choosing an ERP is a decision that shapes a business’s next 7–10 years. Yet most companies limit the selection process to watching demos and comparing price quotes. The ten questions below gather what you should ask the vendor and yourself for a sound decision.

1. Does it support our processes, or must we change them?

A good ERP provides standard processes out of the box but is flexible for the processes that differentiate your business. During the demo ask for your own scenario: for example an order with partial shipments or a multi-currency collection.

2. Is it built for Turkish regulation?

e-Invoice, e-Ledger, e-Waybill, SGK declarations, Ba-Bs and VAT return preparation should be in the core product, not an add-on. Confirm that regulatory changes arrive through version updates at no extra cost.

3. Cloud or on-premise?

Cloud reduces setup and maintenance burden, but ask where data is stored and what backup/disaster recovery assurance exists. Is the data in-country? Can you take all your data with you on exit?

4. Are integrations ready?

Ready connectors for banks, marketplaces, couriers and payment systems, and an open API, spare your project months of custom development.

5. How is the user experience?

An ERP is worth only as much as it is used. Training time, mobile access and ease of search/filtering determine adoption. Bring the employees who will actually use the system to the demo.

6. What is the total cost of ownership?

Think over five years: licence, setup, training, custom development, integrator credits, support and upgrades. Per-user subscription lowers the initial investment but grows with user count.

7. How will migration be managed?

Ask for the data migration plan, parallel run and rollback strategy in writing.

8. What is the support quality?

Have response times written into the contract; ask whether the support team are consultants or a call centre.

9. Are the references from your sector?

Speak to at least three customers of similar size and sector.

10. Is there an exit strategy?

Being able to take your data in standard formats (Excel/CSV, SQL) at contract end reduces vendor dependence.

At Düzlem we hold a short discovery call before the demo and make the answers to these ten questions concrete for your business. You can set up a free call from our appointment page.

A suggested evaluation matrix

Weight each criterion (for example process fit 25%, regulation 15%, integration 15%, cost 20%, support 15%, references 10%) and score at most three vendors from 1 to 5. Do the scoring with a team of purchasing, finance, IT and end-user representatives, so the decision is not one person’s preference and project ownership forms from the start.