ERP Evaluation - Vendor Issues

In evaluting any ERP there are a lot of issues which need consideration. During an ERP implemntation there might be vendor issues, product issues, technical issues, security issues, maintainence issues etc. I have tried to discuss one by one the various issues which should be considered by anu company during an ERP evaluation.

Let us first discuss the various vendor issues which arise while evaluating an ERP -

1. The first thing to consider is how long has the vendor under consideration been selling the ERP in the market.

2. Has the vendor developed the ERP in-house or is just a channel partner of the main company. If the ERP is developed by the vendor himself, is the ERP development team still with the venodr or has moved out.?

3. It would also be important to do some research on the financial position of the vendor. Like what is the gross annual turnover and profit of the vendor company? The ratio of revenue from support services with respect to sales.

4. Another important thng to consider is how long has been the vendor in existence and what are the total number of installations of the ERP in the market?

5. What are the hardware and operating system requirements for running the ERP?

6. How good the support network of the vendor in consideration. Does the vendor have a good network of sales and support offices.

7. Does the vendor company have a sufficient number of employees in their support and technical funtion?

8. What are vendor's support and service policies? Does the vendor provide online support for the ERP?

9. Will the vendor provide traning programs to train the employees in the functionalities of the ERP?

10. Is the vendor solution well accepted in the market. Are there online support / user groups or forums which help in resolving problems?

11. Are there industry specfic solution available within the ERP under consideration? If yes, does the vendor have a sufficient number of industry specific installations to vouch for the success of such solutions?

12. Does the vendor itself implement the ERP or will take help from another third party company for implementing the ERP?