CFOs ERP Evaluation Guide

Chapter 1: The Strategic Role of the CFO in ERP Projects

ERP projects aren’t just IT initiatives they’re enterprise-wide transformations that directly impact financial operations, compliance, reporting, and long-term growth. As a CFO, your role in shaping and guiding ERP strategy is non-negotiable. Too often, ERP decisions are delegated to technical teams. But without strong finance leadership, these systems risk falling short of business needs.

Business Outcomes, Not Technical Specs
ERP systems may be loaded with features, modules, and technical terminology, but as CFO, your focus should remain laser-sharp on outcomes that drive business value. The true return on investment comes not from technical sophistication, but from enabling faster period closes, tighter margin tracking, stronger regulatory compliance, and real-time visibility into financial performance. These are the metrics that move the needle with executives and investors. When ERP conversations veer into system specs or tech deep-dives, it’s up to finance leadership to steer them back to what really matters: measurable improvements in financial efficiency, accuracy, and agility.

Example: A mid-market medical equipment distributor evaluating ERP was leaning toward a system favored by IT. The CFO redirected the evaluation after realizing the solution lacked integrated revenue recognition capabilities putting compliance at risk.

Budgets Must Be Realistic with Contingencies
ERP projects are capital investments, and like any major investment, they come with risk. Many projects go over budget due to underestimated scope, unclear requirements, or internal resource constraints. The CFO must set a clear financial framework from the start:

• Budget for internal time, training, data cleansing not just vendor quotes
• Include contingency buffers (10 - 20%) for the unknowns
• Ensure there's a clear process for approving any scope changes

Red Flag: If your implementation partner says, “We’ll figure out the scope once we start,” you're heading for a budget blowout.

Track Value Realization Post-Implementation

The business case can’t end with go-live. As CFO, your responsibility is to define and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) that map directly to the benefits promised at the outset of the project. These include:

ERP projects are capital investments, and like any major investment, they come with risk. Many  projects go over budget due to underestimated scope, unclear requirements, or internal resource
constraints. The CFO must set a clear financial framework from the start:
Reduction in days to close
Inventory turns improvement
Margin visibility by product line or region
Audit cycle time reduction

To maximize ERP impact beyond go-live, CFOs should establish a value realization dashboard, an essential tool reviewed quarterly with finance and operations leaders. This dashboard isn’t just a reporting mechanism; it’s a strategic instrument for tracking whether the system is delivering on promised outcomes like cost savings, process efficiencies, improved compliance, or enhanced forecasting accuracy. By reviewing it regularly, you create accountability across teams, sustain executive focus on value delivery,  and surface areas needing course correction before benefits erode. It turns ERP from a one-time project into a continuous value engine.

Governance: Keep Scope, Spend, and Timeline in Check

CFOs are uniquely positioned to instill governance discipline into ERP projects. Their command of financial controls, risk management, and strategic oversight makes them the natural anchor for driving accountability across complex implementation efforts. This means:

Clear decision-making roles and escalation paths
Regular project reviews to ask the questions:, are we on time, on budget, and aligned to goals?
Reviewing change requests for alignment with business value

Pro Tip: Appoint a finance lead to the ERP steering committee who can bridge the gap between accounting and IT. Look for someone who not only understands financial processes and controls but can also translate those needs into system requirements and technical decisions. This dual fluency ensures finance stays front and center in ERP design conversations and helps avoid costly misalignment between business goals and system capabilities.

Treat ERP as a Capital Investment

At its core, ERP is not a software upgrade; it's a multi-year investment in operational capability. CFOs must evaluate it the same way they would any capital allocation:

• What are the tangible and intangible returns?
• What are the implementation risks?
• How does it support company growth over the next 5 - 10 years?

Industry Example: A manufacturing CFO guided their ERP selection by modeling expected cost savings and efficiency gains over five years. The board approved the project once the model showed a 2.4-year breakeven and alignment with expansion goals in Latin America.

The CFO's strategic role in ERP isn’t just advisable, it’s essential. Your leadership ensures that the system selected won’t just function, but will fuel smarter decisions, operational alignment, and scalable growth.

Industry Tip: In a recent mid-market food processing client, the CFO ensured that unit cost tracking was
automated inside the ERP reducing inventory waste by 18% in year one.

Recognizing when your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system transitions from an asset to a liability is as crucial as the initial selection of the right solution. In the mid-market, a common pitfall is the postponement of ERP upgrades or replacements, allowing operational inefficiencies to escalate into significant financial disruptions.

As a CFO, you possess a unique vantage point to identify the early warning signs. These often manifest as limited scalability, inadequate reporting capabilities, or strained financial workflows. By proactively leading the evaluation process for ERP modernization, you enable the business to anticipate and mitigate potential issues, rather than react to costly problems after they emerge.

Ultimately, ERP modernization should be viewed as a strategic imperative, not merely a reactive measure.

1. Financial Visibility Is Fragmented or Delayed

One of the most immediate indicators that an ERP system is becoming a liability rather than an asset is the fragmentation or delay of financial visibility. If your finance team is still reliant on manual spreadsheets or disparate, offline tools to consolidate critical data across departments, your current ERP is simply not fulfilling its fundamental purpose. As a CFO, I require real-time visibility into financial performance to effectively manage cash flow, conduct accurate performance analysis, and develop reliable forecasts.
Without it, strategic decision-making is compromised.

Consider a recent example: A consumer electronics distributor was consistently waiting 14 days to close the books each month due to highly fragmented systems. By implementing a modern cloud ERP, they were able to automate intercompany transactions and consolidations, reducing their monthly close to a mere 5 days. This significantly improved their agility and decision-making capabilities.

Warning Signs: If every quarterly close feels chaotic and reactive, it's a clear signal that your ERP system is no longer fit for purpose. Modern finance teams should not be scrambling to assemble data, reconcile numbers, and meet deadlines under immense pressure. When the process of closing the books becomes a recurring stress test, it's imperative to evaluate whether your current technology is truly enabling your team to operate efficiently, or if it's effectively holding them hostage to outdated processes.

2. Excessive Manual Workarounds

Another significant indicator that your ERP system is no longer serving the business effectively is the proliferation of excessive manual workarounds. When your team is forced to build custom spreadsheets, maintain "shadow systems," or rely on email for critical workflows that should be managed within the ERP, it's a clear sign that the system no longer aligns with your operational processes. This practice not only introduces significant risk through data discrepancies and a lack of control but also severely drains productivity and actively prevents scale.

Pro Tip: Track how much time your finance team spends manually reconciling data outside the ERP. If this "spreadsheet gymnastics" is consuming more than 10-15% of their capacity, it's far more than just an inefficiency; it's a definitive signal that your system is creating friction, rather than eliminating it. An effective ERP should streamline processes, not compel your teams to invent cumbersome, error-prone solutions to bridge fundamental gaps.

3. Poor Integration with Other Business Systems

In today's interconnected business environment, the finance function relies heavily on seamless integration with other critical business systems, including Customer Relationship Management (CRM), eCommerce platforms, warehouse management systems, and more. If your ERP system struggles with easy integration or demands costly, custom development for every minor change; you are operating at a significant strategic disadvantage. This lack of interoperability creates data silos, hinders cross-functional visibility, and ultimately impedes agile decision-making.

Consider a recent example: A growing food distributor needed real-time inventory sync between ERP  and eCommerce. Their legacy system necessitated weekly manual uploads, leading to inaccuracies and customer frustration. However, after migrating to SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, inventory updates flowed automatically, dramatically improving order accuracy and significantly boosting customer satisfaction. This demonstrates the profound impact that seamless integration can have on operational efficiency and customer trust.

4. Rising Costs with Diminishing Returns

A critical red flag indicating an ERP system has become a liability is the pattern of rising costs coupled with diminishing returns. Legacy ERP systems are often burdened with a host of hidden expenses, including exorbitant annual maintenance fees, costly external consultants required for routine tasks, and  substantial upgrade fees that offer incremental, rather than transformative, value. Concurrently, the strategic value these systems deliver tends to erode year after year.

Warning Signs: From a CFO's perspective, this trend becomes glaringly apparent when the majority of your IT budget is allocated merely to keeping the ERP system operational, devoted to patching, routine maintenance, and troubleshooting. If your technology spend is predominantly defensive, preventing system failures rather than actively driving innovation or adding strategic value to the business, it's an unequivocal sign that the system is holding back your organization's progress and financial agility. This is not just an IT problem; it's a fundamental misallocation of capital that directly impacts the bottom line and future growth potential.

5. Limited Scalability or Global Support

As your business scales into new locations, introduces diverse product lines, or integrates through acquisitions, your ERP system must possess the inherent capability to scale alongside it. Systems that struggle to manage multiple legal entities, various currencies, or complex regulatory environments will inevitably  transform into significant bottlenecks, impeding your strategic growth initiatives. This isn't merely an operational inconvenience; it's a direct impediment to realizing your full market potential.

Pro Tip: From a CFO's vantage point, it's crucial to prioritize ERP solutions that deliver built-in localization and compliance capabilities, meaning no costly add-ons or precarious custom workarounds are needed.  For instance, SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition is specifically designed to support country-specific tax regulations and statutory reporting requirements out of the box. This functionality helps you scale globally while ensuring you remain compliant locally, significantly de-risking international expansion. This isn't  just a convenient feature; it's a strategic enabler for multinational growth, allowing your finance team to confidently navigate the complexities of a globalized economy.

6. Compliance and Audit Challenges

Modern regulatory environments demand detailed, auditable records, a requirement that many legacy ERP systems struggle to meet without significant, often inefficient, manual interventions. This is a critical area where an outdated ERP can expose the company to substantial risk. As CFO, you are uniquely equipped to recognize when your ERP system begins to erode financial visibility, weaken internal controls, or constrain business growth. Spotting these critical signals early allows you to initiate a thoughtful evaluation, rally key stakeholders around a shared vision for modernization, and lead a proactive, forward-looking transition. This strategic foresight ensures you address potential pain points well before they escalate into full-blown operational and financial disruptions.

Consider a recent example: A mid-market pharma company was cited during a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) audit due to inconsistent batch traceability. Their legacy ERP system simply lacked real-time lot tracking, resulting in critical gaps in both traceability and operational visibility. After upgrading to a modern system, they achieved full traceability, enabling them to pass their subsequent audit without issue. This highlights that regulatory compliance isn't just about avoiding fines; it's about maintaining operational integrity and market trust.

The success or failure of your ERP project hinges on the precision with which you define your business and financial requirements. When these requirements are ambiguous, fragmented, or solely driven by IT considerations, the system is almost guaranteed to fall short of expectations. Without a clear, business-driven blueprint, you risk implementing a solution that fails to support core processes, scale with growth, or deliver the anticipated return on investment (ROI).

Successful ERP outcomes originate from well-defined, cross-functional requirements that genuinely reflect strategic priorities, rather than just technical checkboxes. As CFO, you are uniquely positioned to lead this crucial phase with the clarity, control, and cross-functional perspective necessary to ensure the ERP truly serves the strategic objectives of the entire organization. The success or failure of your ERP project hinges on the precision with which you define your business and financial requirements. When these requirements are ambiguous, fragmented, or solely driven by IT considerations, the system is almost guaranteed to fall short of expectations. Without a clear, business-driven blueprint, you risk implementing a solution that fails to support core processes, scale with growth, or deliver the anticipated return on investment (ROI).

Successful ERP outcomes originate from well-defined, cross-functional requirements that genuinely reflect strategic priorities, rather than just technical checkboxes. As CFO, you are uniquely positioned to lead this crucial phase with the clarity, control, and cross-functional perspective necessary to ensure the ERP truly serves the strategic objectives of the entire organization.

Start with Core Financial Processes: The Foundation

At a minimum, your chosen ERP system absolutely must provide robust support for core accounting and financial operations. However, it is a critical error to assume that every ERP solution performs these functions equally well, or that their standard functionalities will align perfectly with the unique operational nuances of your business. This foundational capability is non-negotiable, and its precise fit with your organization's financial workflows is paramount to a successful implementation.

The following are key areas to document.

To ensure your new ERP system truly meets your needs, you'll need to meticulously document your requirements across several key financial areas:

• Chart of Accounts: Define your current and desired Chart of Accounts structure, including any specific segments for tracking by region, department, product line, or other critical dimensions. This is the backbone of your financial reporting.
• Multi-entity Consolidation: Detail your requirements for consolidating financial data across multiple legal entities, especially if you operate subsidiaries or have complex ownership structures.
• Accounts Payable (AP) and Accounts Receivable (AR) Processes: Clearly outline your workflows for both AP and AR, including specific needs for approval workflows, payment runs, invoice processing, and cash application.
• Cash Management and Treasury Integration: Document your needs for bank reconciliations, comprehensive cash flow tracking, and potential integration with treasury management systems for optimized liquidity.
• Financial Close Calendar and Automation Expectations: Map out your current financial close process and explicitly define your automation expectations for tasks like journal entries, reconciliations, and reporting to significantly reduce close times

Example: A beverage distributor significantly improved its efficiency by meticulously documenting its financial pain points during the requirements mapping phase. By selecting an ERP that specifically automated intercompany eliminations and journal entry reversals, they were able to save over 30 hours per month. This tangible time savings highlights the power of a clear requirements definition, leading directly to a more streamlined and effective financial close process.

Align on Compliance and Reporting Needs

Modern ERP systems must inherently support a variety of regulatory, tax, and audit readiness frameworks. As a CFO, understanding these is crucial for due diligence and ensuring the chosen system future-proofs the organization against compliance risks.

I. Financial Reporting and Accounting Standards:

• GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles): Primarily used in the United States, ERPs must support the principles and rules for financial reporting that ensure consistency, comparability, and transparency. This includes proper revenue recognition, expense matching, and asset/liability valuation.
• IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards): Used in over 140 countries worldwide, ERPs for multinational companies must support IFRS, which aims to provide a common global language for business affairs so that company accounts are understandable and comparable across international borders.
• Local Accounting Standards: Beyond GAAP and IFRS, many countries have specific local accounting nuances and statutory reporting requirements that an ERP must accommodate, often through country-specific localizations.

II. Corporate Governance and Internal Controls:

• SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley Act): For publicly traded companies in the U.S., SOX mandates robust internal controls over financial reporting to prevent corporate accounting scandals. ERP systems play a vital role in SOX compliance through:
  • Segregation of Duties (SoD): Preventing a single individual from having control over an entire transaction (e.g., initiating, approving, and recording a payment).
  • Audit Trails: Comprehensive logging of all system activities, including data changes, user access, and transaction approvals, to provide an unalterable record for auditors.
  • Access Controls: Role-based permissions to ensure only authorized personnel can access sensitive financial data and functions.
  • Automated Workflows: Enforcing defined approval processes and data validation to reduce manual errors and improve control.

III. Data Privacy and Protection Regulations:

• GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation): Applicable to any organization processing personal data of EU citizens, regardless of the organization's location. ERPs must support GDPR compliance through:
  • Data Minimization: Collecting only necessary data.
  • Right to Erasure (Right to be Forgotten): Ability to delete personal data upon request.
  • Data Portability: Ability to provide data to individuals in a portable format.
  • Data Security: Robust measures to protect personal data from breaches.
  • Auditability: Tracking and demonstrating compliance with data handling principles.
• HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act): Specific to the healthcare industry in the U.S., requiring protection of Protected Health Information (PHI). ERPs handling PHI must ensure:
  • Access Controls: Strict control over who can access PHI.
  • Data Encryption: Protecting PHI at rest and in transit.
  • Audit Trails: Logging all access and modifications to PHI.
  • Data Backup and Disaster Recovery: Ensuring PHI availability and recovery in case of system failure.
• CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) / CPRA (California Privacy Rights Act): U.S. state-level privacy laws for California residents, similar to GDPR in some aspects, requiring businesses to disclose data collection practices and allow consumers to opt out of data sales or request data deletion. ERPs need features to support these consumer rights.
• Other Regional/National Privacy Laws: Many other countries and regions are enacting their own data privacy laws (e.g., LGPD in Brazil, PIPA in South Korea, various state laws in the US), and a global ERP needs to be adaptable.

IV: Industry-Specific Regulations:

• FDA (Food and Drug Administration): For life sciences and food & beverage industries, requiring strict traceability, quality control, and record-keeping for products and processes. ERPs must support lot tracking, batch management, and electronic record integrity (e.g., 21 CFR Part 11 for electronic signatures).
• PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard): Applicable to any organization that stores, processes, or transmits credit card data. ERPs processing payments must ensure compliance with security requirements for protecting cardholder data.
• Other Industry-Specific Rules: Depending on the sector (e.g., manufacturing, retail, public sector), there may be specific quality, environmental, or operational regulations that the ERP must inherently support or be configurable to meet.

V: Tax Compliance Frameworks:

• Local, State, and Federal Tax Laws: ERPs must be able to accurately calculate and report various taxes (e.g., sales tax, VAT/GST, corporate income tax, payroll taxes) based on the specific jurisdiction and transaction type.
• E-invoicing/Digital Reporting Mandates: A growing trend where governments require the electronic submission of invoices and transaction data directly from ERPs.
• Tax Control Frameworks (TCF): While not a single regulation, the concept of a TCF, often supported by ERP capabilities, emphasizes clear policies, risk management, standardized procedures, and continuous monitoring to ensure tax compliance and minimize risk.

A modern ERP system provides the foundational infrastructure and configurable features to address these diverse and evolving compliance demands, helping CFOs ensure financial integrity, reduce risk exposure, and maintain the organization's license to operate.

Red Flag: If your current system necessitates manual workarounds to satisfy audit or tax reporting requirements, then it is imperative to bake automation and inherent audit-readiness directly into your new ERP requirements. This proactive approach ensures that the chosen solution will streamline compliance, reduce risk, and free up valuable finance team capacity.

Define Operational and Industry-Specific Needs

While core financial processes are the bedrock, a truly transformative ERP implementation cannot stop at the finance department's boundaries. To achieve optimal financial visibility, robust decision-making, and sustainable growth, your requirements definition must comprehensively include the upstream and downstream processes that directly impact your financial data and strategic decision-making. Failing to do so will simply shift inefficiencies rather than eliminate them, and you will miss critical opportunities for enterprise-wide value creation.

This cross-functional approach ensures that data flows seamlessly from its origin to its financial impact, providing a complete, accurate, and real-time picture of the business. It allows for the automation of processes that span departments, reduces reconciliation efforts, and provides a single source of truth that is invaluable for forecasting, planning, and strategic resource allocation.

For instance:

- Manufacturing: Consider requirements for Bills of Material (BOM) and routings, Material Requirements Planning (MRP), shop floor control, and precise production costing.

- Distribution: Document needs for accurate inventory valuation, seamless Warehouse Management System (WMS) integration, detailed lot/batch tracking, and accurate landed cost calculation.

- Project-based Businesses: Focus on efficient time and expense tracking, robust project accounting, and clear billing milestones.

To effectively capture these, you must bring in stakeholders from operations, sales, warehouse, and logistics. Their insights are vital for defining how processes work today, identifying critical pain points,  and outlining what truly needs to improve.

Integration Requirements: The Connected Enterprise

A modern ERP's value is profoundly amplified by its ability to integrate cleanly with your existing ecosystem. This isn't a nice-to-have; it's a fundamental necessity for data integrity and operational efficiency. You'll need to define integration requirements for:

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems (e.g., SAP Sales Cloud, Salesforce, HubSpot).
• e-commerce platforms (e.g., Shopify, Magento, Amazon).
• Payroll and Human Resources (HR) systems (e.g., ADP, Workday).
• Banking APIs, tax engines, and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) platforms.

Tip: Be specific about your expected data exchange frequency (e.g., real-time, daily, batch) and your preferred integration methods (e.g., native APIs, pre-built connectors). This clarity helps in evaluating solution capabilities and implementation effort.

Get Specific About Financial Insights: Beyond Basic Reporting

As a CFO, you need more than just financial reports; you require actionable insights. Build these advanced reporting and analysis needs directly into your requirements:

• Real-time dashboards providing visibility by product line, region, and customer.
• Detailed profitability tracking at granular levels, such as by SKU or sales channel.
• Capabilities for scenario modeling and rolling forecasts to support agile planning.
• Variance analysis at multiple organizational levels to pinpoint performance deviations.

Example: A mid-market industrial supplier prioritized profitability by customer as a must-have requirement. The ERP they selected provided the CFO with immediate visibility into their most and least profitable accounts, leading to targeted strategies that drove significant margin improvements.

Use Workshops and Process Mapping: Uncovering True Needs

Cross-functional workshops are the most effective method for surfacing genuine needs and aligning diverse stakeholders. Use these sessions to:

• Map current processes and identify pain points that hinder efficiency and accuracy.
• Define ideal-state workflows that leverage the ERP's capabilities.
• Prioritize must-haves versus nice-to-haves to focus efforts and budget.

Best Practice: Assign a finance lead to each major process stream (e.g., order-to-cash, procure-to-pay). Their role is to meticulously document and validate requirements with their operational peers, ensuring financial integrity is embedded at every step.

Prioritize, Document, and Own the Requirements: The Foundation of Success

Not all requirements carry equal weight. It's crucial to categorize them strategically:

• Critical: These are the must-haves, representing business blockers if not addressed.
• Important: These would drive significant efficiency or provide crucial insight.
• Optional: These are valuable enhancements or candidates for a future phase.

Finally, create a master requirements document with owner sign-off for each section. This document will serve as the indispensable foundation for your vendor scorecards, system demonstrations, and ultimately, the successful design and implementation of your new ERP.

Well-defined requirements are the critical difference between an ERP that delivers strategic value and one that becomes a sunk cost. As CFO, you are uniquely positioned to lead this process
with structure, evidence, and clarity, ensuring that what matters most to the business truly makes it into the system design.

ERP selection is not a solo decision. It is an investment that profoundly impacts every department, every process, and ultimately, your bottom line. Therefore, assembling the right evaluation team is paramount to selecting a system that delivers measurable business value and a robust return on investment. As CFO, you are in a unique position to shape this team, ensuring it is both strategic in its outlook and fully accountable for its recommendations.

Define Roles and Responsibilities Early

Begin by meticulously identifying who will play key roles in the evaluation process. Think beyond job titles; instead, consider individuals who possess a deep understanding of business processes, firsthand experience with current pain points, and a clear grasp of inter-departmental dependencies.

Core Team Roles:

CFO or VP Finance: Your role extends beyond financial evaluation; you are the Project Sponsor, championing the strategic imperative and ensuring financial rigor throughout the selection.
CIO or IT Director: Responsible for technical vetting, assessing integration feasibility, scalability, and cybersecurity implications.
COO or Operations Lead: Provides crucial process knowledge and ensures the selected ERP delivers optimal operational alignment and efficiency.
Functional Managers (Sales, Procurement, Warehouse, etc.): These individuals are vital for articulating department-specific needs, validating usability, and ensuring the system supports their day-to-day operations.
Project Manager or ERP Advisor: This role is critical for maintaining timelines, tracking decisions, and organizing documentation, ensuring the process remains structured and efficient.

Tip: Assign a RACI chart (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) to each stage of the selection process to ensure clarity.

Ensure Cross-Functional Balance

An ERP selection process is at significant risk if it becomes dominated by IT or finance perspectives alone. Achieving cross-functional balance within the evaluation team is essential. This brings invaluable, real-world insight into system usability, practical application, and true scalability across the entire enterprise.

Example: In a mid-sized chemicals company, the selection process initially excluded warehouse leadership. During demonstrations, they uncovered critical gaps in lot traceability saving the company from a poor-fit vendor. This critical insight, gained just in time, saved the company from investing in a profoundly poor-fit vendor and incurring immense post-implementation costs.

Red Flag: If your team doesn't include operational voices from key departments, you’ll end up with a system that satisfies reporting but will inevitably frustrate end-users and fail to deliver on its operational promises.

Involve Decision Makers and End Users

You need a delicate balance of both strategic oversight and crucial tactical input. Too many ERP failures can be directly attributed to the omission of end-users from the evaluation process.

• Executives provide the overarching alignment to core business goals and strategic direction.
• Power users from various departments are essential for validating usability and confirming the system's ability to support critical day-to-day processes.

Best Practice: Conduct scenario-based demo evaluations with both executive sponsors and power users present. Crucially, have users score systems based on ease of completing actual tasks, not just watching a polished presentation. This provides invaluable, objective feedback on practical usability.

Bring in External Expertise

Engaging a trusted ERP advisor or an experienced implementation partner (such as Navigator Business Solutions) can provide invaluable structure, impart best practices, and offer a crucial neutral perspective. They can:

• Help refine and validate your requirements.
• Provide essential industry benchmarks and insights.
• Efficiently run RFPs (Requests for Proposal) and manage vendor demos.
• Crucially, identify red flags in vendor responses and proposals that internal teams might overlook.

Tip: Select an advisor with deep, proven experience in your specific industry and company size segment, not just general ERP knowledge. Their specialized insight can be a game-changer.

Keep the Team Lean but Empowered

An evaluation team that is too large often leads to slowed decision-making and diffused accountability. Conversely, a team that is too small risks missing critical functional insights. A core team of 5-7 individuals is typically ideal, with additional contributors brought in selectively for specific topics or deep dives.

• The core team should be empowered to make the final recommendations.
• Contributors provide specialized functional input and participate in testing scenarios.

Example: A $200M food distributor kept their evaluation team to seven members. Each had decision-making authority and a clear role. The result: a focused, accountable process that hit deadlines and budget.

Communicate Roles and Timelines Clearly

Every individual on the evaluation team must unequivocally understand:

• The precise scope of their role.
• What decisions they influence and to what extent.
• How and when they need to participate and contribute their expertise.

Utilize a formal project charter or a dedicated kickoff session to explicitly establish expectations and build genuine commitment across the entire team.

A disciplined, cross-functional evaluation team is your most robust defense against ERP misalignment.  As CFO, your leadership sets the tone. By building a team that accurately reflects the operational reality of your business, you will select a system that genuinely supports and enhances it long after the go-live.

Choosing the right ERP architecture and platform represents one of the most strategic decisions you, as  CFO, will make during the evaluation process. It's imperative to transcend vendor rhetoric and deeply understand the financial and operational implications of each option regarding flexibility, cost structure,  scalability, and precise business fit. This chapter dissects three pivotal comparison dimensions: the deployment model, the vendor tier, and the critical alignment with your industry.

Cloud vs. On-Premise ERP

The industry has decisively shifted toward cloud ERP, and for compelling reasons that directly impact the financial health and agility of the business.

Cloud ERP Advantages:

• Lower Upfront Costs: The transition to a subscription-based pricing model (operating expenditure OpEx) fundamentally avoids the burden of heavy capital expenditure (CapEx) outlays, improving cash flow and financial flexibility.
• Faster Deployment: Pre-configured industry templates significantly accelerate the go-live timeline, allowing for quicker realization of value.
• Automatic Updates: This eliminates the costly and disruptive manual upgrade cycles inherent in on-premise solutions, ensuring your system remains current with minimal internal IT burden and predictable operational costs.
• Enhanced Scalability: Cloud solutions are inherently designed to effortlessly support multi-entity growth, accommodate remote users, and facilitate seamless global operations, making international expansion more financially viable.
• Superior Business Continuity: With built-in disaster recovery, robust security protocols, and guaranteed uptime Service Level Agreements (SLAs), cloud ERP mitigates operational risks and safeguards financial data, offering greater peace of mind\

On-Premise ERP Challenges:

• High Initial Capital Expense and Prolonged Implementation Cycles: These systems demand significant upfront investment in hardware, software licenses, and lengthy, complex deployment phases, tying up capital and delaying ROI.
• Requires Internal Infrastructure and Dedicated IT Staff: The ongoing need for internal server management, maintenance, and a specialized IT team adds substantial, often unpredictable, operational costs.
• Manual and Disruptive Upgrades: Each upgrade cycle is typically a major project, consuming valuable resources, causing operational disruption, and often delaying access to new features.
• Lacks Real-Time Mobility and Modern UI: Older on-premise systems often fail to provide the ubiquitous access and intuitive user experience critical for today's dynamic business environment.

CFO Perspective: For most mid-market manufacturers and distributors, the cloud deployment model delivers superior cost predictability, unparalleled flexibility, and clear long-term value. SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, for example, offers enterprise-grade capabilities without the traditional capital and operational overhead associated with on-premise solutions.

Tier 1 vs. Tier 2 ERP Vendors

ERP vendors are generally categorized into tiers based on their scale, functional depth, and target markets. The strategic choice between a Tier 1 and a Tier 2 vendor must be directly tied to your organization's current complexity and ambitious growth trajectory.

Tier 1 ERP (e.g., SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition):

• Designed for Multi-entity, Global Operations: Built to manage the complexities of diverse legal entities, multiple currencies, and international tax and regulatory requirements.
• Robust Financials, Supply Chain, Compliance, and Analytics: Offers comprehensive, integrated modules that provide deep functionality across critical business areas.
• Built-in Best Practices and Industry Content: Incorporates proven industry workflows and processes, reducing the need for costly customization.
• Long-Term Scalability Without Re-platforming: Provides a stable, future-proof platform capable of supporting sustained, aggressive growth without the need for disruptive system overhauls later.

Tier 2 ERP (e.g., niche or regional vendors):

• Simpler Systems with Potentially Faster Implementations: May appeal due to a lower initial complexity, leading to quicker deployment.
• Potentially Less Costly Up Front: Often present a more attractive initial price point.
• Often Lacks Depth in Compliance, Auditability, or International Support: This is a critical deficiency for growing businesses, potentially leading to significant financial and regulatory risks down the line.

Warning Sign: A Tier 2 ERP that can’t support your business model in 2 - 3 years will become a sunk cost, necessitating another expensive and disruptive replacement.

Example: A $150M industrial distributor initially opted for a Tier 2 ERP, primarily driven by cost considerations. However, just two years later, following a strategic acquisition, they were forced to undertake another costly system replacement, migrating to a Tier 1 platform due to the Tier 2 system's critical limitations in multi-entity consolidation and international tax compliance. This perfectly illustrates the false economy of short-sighted choices.

Industry Fit and Pre-Configured Solutions

Your chosen ERP system must inherently work for your specific industry out of the box. Systems that demand heavy customization to accommodate standard industry practices will inevitably slow down your implementation, increase your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), and introduce ongoing maintenance complexities.

Evaluate for:

• Pre-built templates specifically tailored for your vertical (e.g., batch manufacturing, wholesale distribution).
• Robust support for industry-specific compliance requirements (e.g., FDA regulations for life sciences, REACH for chemicals, ITAR for defense).
• Configurable workflows that precisely match your unique operational model, avoiding the need for expensive custom coding.

Example: A life sciences manufacturer selected SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition specifically because it came with GxP-aligned best practices, built-in audit trails, and validation documentation support. This immediate industry fit significantly de-risked their implementation and accelerated compliance.

Integration, Ecosystem, and Future Roadmap

Beyond what the ERP can accomplish today, as CFO, you must critically assess its long-term viability and adaptability. Ask probing questions such as:

• Can it easily integrate with our existing and future CRM, eCommerce, and logistics platforms without extensive custom development?
• Is there a strong ecosystem of partners, complementary tools, and extensions that can adapt to evolving business needs?
• Does the vendor possess a clear product roadmap that aligns with our innovation goals and anticipated technological advancements?

Pro Tip: During vendor discussions, inquire about how they plan to support Artificial Intelligence (AI), Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting, or specific industry cloud innovations within the next 3 to 5 years. This foresight is critical for safeguarding your investment.

The ERP platform you choose today must be capable of supporting where your business is going tomorrow. A clear-eyed comparison of deployment model, vendor tier, and industry fit grounded in your strategic business priorities, will prevent an expensive and disruptive mistake. As CFO, your informed voice ensures that long-term value, operational readiness, and future scalability remain at the forefront of this pivotal decision.

As CFO, your role in ERP evaluation is to ensure financial discipline and long-term value. ERP projects aren’t just about software, they're about capital allocation, financial control, and sustainable growth.

This chapter covers the financial levers that should guide your ERP decision: Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), Return on Investment (ROI), funding models, and scalability.

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
Don’t stop at vendor quotes. A complete TCO model includes:
Licensing or subscription fees (per user, per module)
Implementation costs: Partner services, data migration, testing
Internal labor: Project management, process owners, backfills
Training and change management
Ongoing costs: Support, maintenance, integrations, upgrades
Tip: Model TCO over 5 - 7 years to capture the full financial impact.

Example: A mid-market consumer goods company compared cloud vs on-premise ERP. The on-premise system had lower software costs but higher infrastructure, upgrade, and internal IT costs, making cloud the clear TCO winner.

Return on Investment (ROI)

ERP projects must deliver measurable returns. ROI isn’t just about cost savings, it's about enabling better decisions and agility.

ROI levers include:

Reduced days to close and faster reporting
Automated workflows replacing manual tasks
Lower inventory carrying costs
Fewer errors and rework from integrated systems
Improved customer fill rates or billing accuracy

Best Practice: Build an ROI model that links ERP functionality to business outcomes. For example, automating invoice matching might reduce headcount in AP, while accurate landed cost tracking can improve pricing decisions.

Subscription vs. Capital Spend

Most modern ERPs, especially cloud solutions like SAP Cloud ERP, use a subscription model (OpEx). This can:

• Improve cash flow by avoiding large upfront payments
• Shift cost from CapEx to OpEx, simplifying approval
• Align expenses with usage over time
• Board Tip: Confirm whether your board or auditors have a preference for capital vs. operating treatment.
• Include this in your business case.
• Scalability and Long-Term Value

ERP is a long-term investment. Don’t choose a system that limits your future.

Ask:

• Will this system scale with new entities, product lines, or geographies?
• Can it support new regulations or tax jurisdictions?
• Does it offer flexibility to grow without expensive customizations?

Example: A mid-market logistics firm selected SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition for its ability to easily spin up new legal entities and support real-time global consolidation, eliminating manual spreadsheets across five countries.

Red Flag: If the system under evaluation can’t model future business scenarios like acquisitions, product line expansion, or regulatory changes it’s not a strategic fit.

The ERP you choose will touch every dollar that flows through your business. As CFO, you must demand a full financial picture not just upfront costs. A disciplined evaluation of TCO, ROI, funding impact, and scalability ensures the system you choose today delivers sustainable value for years to come.

Choosing the right ERP software is only half the equation. Equally important is selecting the right vendor and implementation partner those who will guide your team from kickoff to go-live and beyond. As CFO, your evaluation must go beyond sales demos and marketing slicks. This chapter focuses on how to vet ERP vendors and shortlist those who meet both functional and strategic needs.

Assess Financial Stability and Long-Term Viability

ERP is a long-term investment. The vendor you choose should be one you can count on for a decade or more.

Key indicators to evaluate:

• Financial health and profitability
• Product development investment and release history
• Customer retention rates
• Strategic direction and technology roadmap

Tip: Ask vendors directly how much they invest annually in R&D and how frequently they deliver updates.

Example: A mid-sized biotech firm chose SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition in part due to SAP’s continued investment in AI-driven analytics and industry cloud innovations ensuring their system stays competitive.

Demand Industry and Mid-Market Fit
The ERP vendor and their implementation partner must understand your industry and your scale. A solution designed for global Fortune 100s may be overbuilt; one designed for startups may lack rigor.

Look for:

• Proven use cases in your vertical (e.g., manufacturing, distribution, life sciences)
• Scaled implementations for companies in the $50M–$1B revenue range
• Support for your regulatory and operational needs out of the box

Red Flag: Vendors that say “we can build that for you” instead of showing pre-configured capabilities for your sector.

Evaluate the Implementation Partner, Not Just the Software

Many ERP failures stem from poor implementations and lack of change management, not bad software. The partner delivering the system is just as critical as the system itself.

Partner criteria to consider:

• Depth of experience in your industry
• Methodology and governance model
• Track record with similar-sized organizations
• Post-go-live support and knowledge transfer plan

Best Practice: Choose a partner like Navigator Business Solutions, which combines deep SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition expertise with mid-market operational know-how.  References and Customer Success Stories. Don’t skip this step. Speaking with existing customers reveals the reality behind the pitch.

Ask references about:

• Project timeline vs. actual delivery
• Change management and user adoption
• Data migration quality
• Support responsiveness post go-live

Tip: Request references who have been live for at least 6–12 months long enough to experience real-world use and outcomes.

Service, Support, and Training

Beyond go-live, ERP success hinges on access to timely, competent support.

Evaluate:

• SLA terms for support response and resolution
• Availability of user training resources and documentation
• Escalation paths for critical issues

Example: A global industrial equipment firm selected their ERP partner largely because of the robust training and self-service tools available to their plant controllers and finance managers across three continents.

Scorecards Keep Evaluation Objective

• Create a vendor scorecard with weighted criteria across:
• Functional fit
• Industry relevance
• Implementation quality
• Cost and licensing terms
• Post-launch support

Tip: Have each evaluation team member independently score vendors, then aggregate for objective analysis.

Shortlisting ERP vendors is about risk management, value alignment, and cultural fit. As CFO, insist on evidence, not promises, and treat vendor selection as rigorously as you would any other strategic investment.

A well-run ERP selection process is more than a technology choice, it's a strategic financial decision.. As CFO, you must lead a disciplined, evidence-based process that minimizes risk and ensures the final solution aligns with your company's long-term business goals. This chapter outlines the critical stages, from initial market scanning to final decision-making, all viewed through a CFO's lens of control, leverage, and value.

Start with an RFI: Narrow the Financial Risk

A Request for Information (RFI) is your first step in mitigating market risk. It helps you efficiently scan the vast vendor landscape to identify a long list of viable partners. Your goals are to:

• Validate vendor viability: Confirm that vendors have a proven track record in your industry and with
  Companies of your size.
• Assess architectural risk: Understand the financial implications of different deployment models
  (cloud vs. on-premise) and their impact on capital vs. operating expenses.
• Surface early red flags: Quickly eliminate vendors who are a poor strategic or financial fit.

CFO Tip: Keep your RFI focused on 15-20 essential questions. The goal is to gather just enough information to make an informed decision about who is worth a deeper investment of time and resources.

Build a Rigorous RFP: Get the Financial Details

The Request for Proposal (RFP) is where you gain control and leverage. This document forces vendors to provide a detailed, apples-to-apples comparison of their offering, ensuring there are no hidden costs or overlooked requirements. Your RFP must include:

• Functional requirements mapped to business value: Detail what the system needs to do, linking each requirement to a core business process (e.g., automated three-way matching to reduce manual labor and improve control).
• A full cost breakdown: Mandate a clear pricing structure covering licensing, implementation, ongoing support, and any other potential fees.
• Implementation and support models: Require vendors to outline their project methodology, proposed timeline, and how they will support the solution post-go-live.

CFO Best Practice: Use a structured Excel or Google Sheet for all vendor responses. This simple step makes it easy to compare costs, features, and implementation approaches side-by-side, giving you a powerful tool for negotiation.

Red Flag: Vendors who refuse to fill out your RFP format or skip details likely won’t perform well under project pressure.

Design Scripted Demos: Test the ROI

Generic demos are a waste of your team's time. Your goal is to see how each ERP handles your specific business scenarios, testing their ability to deliver real-world ROI.

• Provide real scenarios and data: Give vendors sample data and ask them to demonstrate solutions for your most painful business processes, such as complex intercompany invoicing or the month-end close.
• Engage the right stakeholders: Include not only executive sponsors but also key power users who will determine the system's day-to-day usability.
• Use a structured scorecard: Use a simple 1-5 scale to score each solution on ease of use, process fit, and reporting capabilities. Gather feedback immediately to avoid relying on memory.

Scoring Tip: Use a simple 1 - 5 scale across areas like ease of use, process fit, and reporting capabilities. Collect feedback immediately after each session.

Conduct Strategic Reference Checks: Uncover Financial Risks

Treat reference checks as a due diligence exercise, not a formality. Your objective is to uncover the real-life challenges and hidden costs a vendor's existing customers have experienced. Ask targeted questions about:

• Budget and timeline adherence: Did the project stay on budget and on schedule? If not, what were the reasons?
• Data migration and cutover: How smooth was the transition? What was the biggest challenge?
• Post-implementation support: What is the quality of ongoing support, and are there any unexpected costs?

CFO Example: One CFO I know discovered through a reference call that a vendor's implementation team lacked expertise with mid-market distribution, leading to a 20% budget overrun. This insight was critical in eliminating the vendor from final consideration.

Structure Your Decision-Making with a Scorecard

The final decision must be objective and free from emotional bias. Bring your evaluation team together to review all the evidence you have collected.

• Review the scorecard: Start with the data—the weighted scores from your demos, RFPs, and reference checks.
• Analyze the cost-to-value ratio: Is the premium price of one vendor justified by its superior functionality and lower risk profile?
• Assess risk vs. opportunity: Discuss the strategic risks and opportunities associated with each vendor.

CFO Best Practice: Facilitate a structured decision-making session and use a weighted scoring model to drive the discussion. Ensure the group's consensus, rather than one loud voice, leads the final choice.

Best Practice: Use a weighted scoring model and facilitate a structured decision-making session. Avoid letting one loud voice override the group consensus.

As CFO, your role is to turn the high-stakes ERP selection into a controlled, strategic process. By leading with clarity and documenting every step, you can ensure objectivity and discipline. Each stage becomes an opportunity to reduce uncertainty, gain leverage, and ultimately secure the solution that will drive the most value for the business.

Even the best ERP system can fail if you don't manage risk and embrace change. As CFO, you're in a critical position to drive stability, alignment, and execution through the most disruptive phases of an ERP transformation. This chapter focuses on the core risk areas you must prioritize: data migration, business continuity, and internal readiness.

Data Migration: Don't Underestimate the Financial Risk

Data migration is one of the most underestimated parts of an ERP project, yet it holds significant financial risk. Poor data quality leads to reporting errors, process failures, and a loss of confidence from the business.

Your priorities as CFO:

1. Assign clear data ownership early in the project. Who is responsible for cleaning, validating, and mapping the data?
2. Budget for data profiling and cleansing, not just for the technical transfer. This is a critical investment to ensure your new system is built on a solid foundation.
3. Define which data to migrate decide on a cutoff between current and historical data to avoid unnecessary work and risk.
4. Validate financial balances before and after migration to ensure a smooth transition and maintain audit trails.

CFO Tip: Make data migration a dedicated workstream with clear milestones and sign-offs from the finance department.

Example: A mid-market distributor failed to validate open AR balances pre-go-live. Post-launch collections dropped 12% due to mismatches, resulting in a three-month remediation project.

Business Continuity: Protect Core Operations During Go-Live

Go-live weekend isn’t just an IT event; it's a full-business coordination exercise. As CFO, you must ensure that key financial and operational processes continue without interruption.

Develop robust contingency plans for:

• Customer invoicing and payments to maintain cash flow.
• Supplier payments and PO approvals to manage accounts payable.
• Payroll and tax filings to ensure compliance.
• The financial close process to maintain reporting accuracy.

Best Practice: Run multiple cutover simulations. These mock go-lives expose process gaps, timing issues, and roles confusion before the stakes are real. If your implementation team can't describe the last 72 hours before go-live in detail, you're not ready.

Red Flag: If your implementation team can’t describe what the last 72 hours before go-live will look like, you’re not ready.

Internal Readiness: Align People, Not Just Processes

Your new ERP is only as effective as the people who use it. Resistance, confusion, and fatigue can derail even the best-planned project. As CFO, you must champion change management from the top down.

Key Actions to take:

1. Fund and prioritize change management from the start, including communications, training, and support.
2. Appoint super users in each department to lead by example and support their peers.
3. Set realistic expectations by clearly communicating what will change and how the new system improves outcomes.
4. Track adoption KPIs after go-live, such as system usage, data entry quality, and the number of support tickets.

CFO Example: A CFO at a manufacturing firm held biweekly town halls in the final eight weeks before go-live. This direct communication calmed fears, answered questions, and built momentum, leading to a smoother launch and higher user confidence.

Governance During and After Go-Live

An ERP project isn’t “done” at go-live. You need a formal governance model for the first 90 to 180 days to ensure stability and continued success.

The governance model should:

• Monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) and system stability.
• Approve post-go-live fixes or scope changes to prevent uncontrolled project creep.
• Review team workload to avoid burnout and reallocate resources as needed.
• Celebrate quick wins to build momentum and reinforce the value of the new system.

CFO Tip: Schedule a formal go-live review 30 and 90 days after launch. Use this to collect lessons learned and celebrate the team's efforts.

Managing ERP risk is about planning, ownership, and communication. As CFO, your leadership ensures  that financial integrity is preserved, operations keep running, and your team remains engaged. With the right controls in place, go-live becomes a launchpad, not a landmine.

No ERP project can succeed without complete support from the executive team and board. As the CFO, your role is to go beyond being a financial gatekeeper you must be the champion for this investment, framing it as a strategic imperative. This chapter provides a framework for building a persuasive business case that speaks to what truly matters to leadership: return on investment (ROI), risk mitigation, and competitive advantage.

Anchor the Business Case in Strategy, Not Technology

Don't lead with technical specifications. Instead, frame the ERP investment as a direct enabler of your company's most critical strategic goals. This makes the project an indispensable part of the company's future, not just a costly IT upgrade.

Common strategic drivers include:

• Supporting rapid growth or geographic expansion.
• Enabling data-driven decisions across the enterprise.
• Strengthening financial controls and compliance.
• Reducing operating costs and inefficiencies.
• Enabling M&A readiness or post-acquisition integration.

For example, a CFO at a $300M manufacturer tied the ERP proposal to their three-year plan to double product lines and enter Latin America. The board immediately recognized the ERP as a growth enabler, not just a tech refresh.

Quantify the Financial Impact

Boards and executives want to see the numbers. You must model both the cost and value sides of the investment to prove its financial viability.

Your business case must include:

• Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) over a 5- to 7-year period, including licensing, implementation, training, and ongoing support costs.
• Expected Return on Investment (ROI), broken down by specific process improvements, such as faster order processing or reduced inventory carrying costs.
• Payback period and Net Present Value (NPV) to demonstrate long-term value.
• Budget alignment with fiscal year plans.

Tip: Be sure to highlight both hard savings (e.g., reduced FTEs, lower inventory) and soft benefits (e.g., faster decisions, improved audit outcomes) to present a holistic view of the financial impact.

Address Risk and Mitigation Head-On

Proposing a project without a plan to manage risk signals inexperience. Your business case will be more credible if you acknowledge potential obstacles and show how you've planned to manage them.

Be prepared to discuss:

1. Your comprehensive data migration and change management strategies.
2. A detailed plan for go-live readiness and business continuity.
3. The governance model and how you will ensure stakeholder engagement.
4. Implementation partner selection criteria, justifying why your chosen partner is the best fit.

Proposals that gloss over risk or promise "flawless execution" are a major red flag for any seasoned executive.

Show the Operational Benefits

Beyond the financial department, show how the new ERP system will improve day-to-day operations across the entire organization.

Provide concrete examples for different departments:

• Sales: Faster order processing and real-time inventory visibility.
• Operations: Better production planning and reduced downtime.
• HR: Simplified headcount planning and seamless payroll integration.
• Customer Service: Improved response times and fewer order errors.

Best Practice: Include short quotes or endorsements from department heads to validate these benefits. This internal consensus is a powerful signal of readiness and alignment.

Use Visuals to Communicate Value and Summarize Your Recommendation

Boards are busy and appreciate clarity. A well-crafted visual can communicate more effectively than pages of text.

Consider using:

• An ERP ROI dashboard or scorecard to summarize key metrics.
• A timeline with key milestones and decision gates.
• A cost-benefit chart showing investment versus cumulative returns.
• Before-and-after process flows to illustrate a painful process being streamlined.

Close your business case with a concise, confident, and direct recommendation. Clearly state your recommended ERP platform and partner, the budget request with justification, the go-live timeline, and the next steps. Your ability as CFO to articulate the financial, strategic, and operational impact will determine whether this initiative gains support or stalls. Lead with clarity, evidence, and urgency.

A strong business case balances vision with discipline. As CFO, your ability to articulate the financial, strategic, and operational impact of ERP will determine whether the initiative gains support or stalls in planning. Build your case with clarity, evidence, and urgency, and lead from the front.

Before finalizing your ERP investment, perform a last round of due diligence. This checklist ensures that strategic, financial, and operational safeguards are in place:

• TCO and ROI fully vetted: Has the full cost model (software, services, internal time, support) and business value been modeled and reviewed?
• Vendor and partner roles clearly defined: Is it clear who is responsible for what across implementation, support, and post-go-live services?
• Scope and change control documented: Are scope boundaries and the process for managing change orders agreed upon and in writing?
• Success metrics are defined: Have you set post-go-live KPIs for adoption, reporting accuracy, financial close efficiency, and system stability?
• Internal team is aligned and resourced: Are business leads, IT, and finance all on board and do they have the time and tools to execute?
• Training and change management plans are in place: Is user readiness accounted for with scheduled training, documentation, and support structures?
• Risk mitigation plans ready: Do you have contingency plans for data migration, business continuity, and user adoption? 
• Scalability and future readiness confirmed: Will the solution support your growth plans for the next  5 - 10 years?
• Executive and board approval secured: Is formal sign-off documented and milestone funding aligned with fiscal planning?
• Contract terms reviewed: Have legal, procurement, and finance reviewed all terms, SLAs, and exit clauses?

Taking the time to verify these items protects your investment, aligns expectations, and increases the chances of a smooth implementation with measurable returns.