ERPs for SMBs Post-Close

December 05, 2024

by a professional from The University of Texas at Austin - Red McCombs School of Business in Austin, TX, USA

At Mainshares, we’re always striving to learn from the experiences of searchers and operators who’ve successfully navigated challenges.
One area we’re particularly curious about is ERP migrations or implementations after acquiring a business. If you’ve been through this process, I’d love to hear your insights!
Key questions we’re exploring:
What motivated your ERP change? (e.g., reporting improvements, automation, operational efficiency, scaling needs)
How did you approach implementation? Did you use an ERP software selection process or partner with an implementation firm?
What are the biggest lessons you learned along the way?
Thank you in advance for sharing your wisdom!

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Reply by a professional
in Los Angeles, CA, USA

Thanks, ^redacted‌. Hi ^redacted‌, I'm on the partnership team at Consero Global, we partner exclusively with sponsors and operators (our HQ is in Austin as well), and we help portfolio companies implement ERP systems post close. I'll shoot you an email, but most companies we're introduced to have been running QuickBooks, Xero, etc., which are great solutions but will eventually be outgrown as the company scales,

We hosted a webinar with a sponsor-backed Founder, digging deeper into warning signs (mostly around manual work with revenue recognition, inability to produce deeper managerial reporting, compliance/audit risks, etc.):

https://learningcenter.conseroglobal.com/signs-your-organization-has-outgrown-its-finance-and-accounting-software

In terms of approaching implementations, I would agree with ^redacted‌ that typical implementations can be expensive and time consuming. Shameless plug, but Consero has built a unique playbook called "Finance as a Service", where we bring a full tech stack to the table (e.g., Sage Intacct, BILL, time & expense, etc.). The systems in our tech stack are all pre-integrated, so we have SLAs to onboard within###-###-#### days vs the typical 9-18 months to build in-house. More info is discussed in the video link above, or feel free to DM me or email me redacted and I'm happy to grab some time to chat about our approach.

Reply by a professional
from INSEAD in Toronto, ON, Canada

I completely agree with ^redacted‌ and ^redacted‌. A well defined process, people roles and definition of fundamental business data objects (Projects, Work Orders, Assemblies, Travellers, Carts, Invoices, etc etc) is a must have prerequisite before you start thinking ERP implementation or change an ERP.

For an SMBs, I also like Zoho and there's another name to look into: Odoo.

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