A guide to selecting the right ERP support partner

Selecting the right ERP support partner is crucial for the success and efficiency of your business operations. A reliable and knowledgeable partner will provide timely assistance to resolve issues promptly. But they should also help you to unlock and maximise the value of your ERP system – returning a faster ROI.

After working with growing organisations for more than 40 years, here’s SEIDOR’s guide on how to select a long-term partner to support, maintain and develop your ERP.

Define Your Needs

If you’re going to judge how well your chosen partner is performing then you’re going to have to draw up some KPIs to measure them against.

• Responsiveness: Getting assistance quickly is essential for you to maintain operations. Nobody wants hours, days or weeks of system issues because of unresponsive support.
• Consider Future Growth: Evaluate how your support needs may evolve as your business expands. You’ll want to work with a partner who can help you reach your organisational goals.
• Communication: You’ll want to work with a partner who understands your business and can offer insight into the latest innovation to help your system to do more.

Very happy with support and response times, excellent communication - especially for business critical issues.

SAP Business One user, Sept 2023

Evaluate Potential Partners

It’s always advisable to work with a partner with a proven track record of working with similar types of organisations to support your system.

• Certifications and Accreditations: Check with potential partners what qualifications they have. Make sure service agents have certifications for the latest versions of solutions – plus any third-party add-ons you’ll be using.
• Customer References: What better recommendation than speaking to existing customers? Request references or testimonials to see what it’s actually like working with a potential partner.
• Service Level Agreements: Ensure that the partner offers clear SLAs outlining response times, resolution times, and availability. These will give you an indication of how quickly issues will be resolved.

Did you know… That all of SEIDOR’s team of support consultants for the UK and Ireland are V10 certified?

Assess Support Services

You’ll want to work with a team, that understands every element of your solution – and hosting environment.

• 
  Proactive Monitoring: Ask about practices to identify and address potential issues before they impact your operations.
• Support options & capabilities: Evaluate their ability to provide remote support efficiently and securely – can they also travel on-site if required?
• Training and Education: Does your support partner offer training and education programs to help your team maximise your ERP system's capabilities.

We relied on SEIDOR to provide us with the potential that we could get out of SAP Business One... we couldn't have done anything we've done over the last two years without SEIDOR.

Martin Davies, British Motor Heritage.

Cultural alignment

This is often overlooked, but working with a partner that has the same values and vision as your own business is essential. If you and your partner are always working on different pages, it’s a partnership destined to fail.

• Clear correspondence: Email, phone or social media post shares for relevant content. You should always assess if a potential partner’s communication style aligns with your preferences and expectations.
• Compatibility: Are any cultural differences that might impact collaboration? Explore the best match for your business to gain long-term success.
• Responsiveness: It’s not only in support where you’ll want to find out how quickly enquiries are responded to. How easy is it to speak with somebody about your solution?

Did you know… that all of SEIDOR’s customer success team come from a technical background? They’re always available to answer any questions or to offer insight on system improvements or developments.

There’s lots of different factors to consider when evaluating a new ERP support partner. If you’re considering a new way to support and maintain your solution, learn more about SEIDOR’s award-winning ERP services today. Get in touch with one of our SAP experts today on 01932 212 777.