ERP Partner vs ERP Vendor: Understanding the Differences

By: Keith Wayland    June 18, 2024

So, you’ve decided to migrate your enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to the cloud in an effort to run your business more effectively.

In doing your research, you’ve come to understand that this upgrade will support time- and money-saving automation in finance, HR, procurement, supply chain, workforce management, and more.

Nice going! But now you have a crucial choice to make—one that’s just as important as which ERP software you decide on for your company.

Should You Choose an ERP Vendor or an ERP Partner?

First, let’s define some terms. While these two terms sound like they could be synonymous, they’re in fact, quite different. An ERP vendor, creates and maintains the software. They publish and update it and can work with your organization to implement it.

An ERP partner, on the other hand, is a third party (between you and the vendor) that helps you implement and maximize use of the system that you select. However, when you use an ERP partner, the value added at implementation is only just the beginning.

Now let’s take a look at the role of each in a little more depth.

Working Directly With the ERP Vendor

Whether the ERP project is migrating your entire system from on-premise to the cloud, implementing a new application suite, or changing ERPs altogether, how you go about the engagement can make all the difference.

And going straight to an ERP vendor might seem like the logical thing to do-–it is, after all, the path of least resistance, with some notable benefits. For one, there’s only one business relationship for your organization to deal with. The vendor is typically well-versed about its product, and has the resources in place to deal with any issues that may arise.

What’s more, the ERP vendor likely has a long record of successfully implementing its software for a variety of different types of clients.

All sounds good, right? That’s where some of the limitations come in. Your relationship with the ERP vendor is, by its very nature, transactional. They’re in business to sell you software and get it up and running with as little customization as possible.

This approach can result in fewer opportunities to customize the ERP software to the specific needs of your organization and industry. Chances are, your company will have to change its processes to meet the needs and limitations of the software with the ERP vendor leading the implementation.

Moreover, the ERP vendor is a software company, and that’s where their expertise is—not in functional areas such as finance, human resources, and supply chain.

An ERP partner, such as RPI Consultants, understands the day-to-day needs of the people who work in those jobs, and will collaborate with them to optimize the software for their requirements.

And, what happens when you need support? It’s likely that every time you contact the vendor, you’ll be sent to a different person or team. These support personnel may only be trained on one-size-fits-all solutions, and not have experience serving your specific type of business. Simply put, it’s better to have an ERP partner that’s familiar with your industry.

To sum up, going directly through a vendor for your organization’s ERP is a decent choice. However, it may not be the best choice for your business—working with an ERP partner can deliver even more value. Let’s look at why this is.

Working With an ERP Partner

An ERP partner goes beyond the transactional business relationship you establish with an ERP vendor. While an ERP partner doesn’t actually make the software, they can assist your company with selecting it, as well as configuring it.

What’s more, the partner relationship extends beyond the implementation. Support is always easy to come by, with a dedicated project manager, representative, and a team with expertise in the specific needs and challenges related to your type of business.

The ERP partner essentially becomes an extension of your internal team, and in some cases can literally join it through staff augmentation agreements.

When considering an ERP partner, look for proven expertise in software consulting, technical architecture, and project management.

The ideal ERP partner can provide help with new implementations and migrations from existing on premise systems; technical assessments; system designs, expansions, and optimizations; custom development and integrations, and more.

It can also take things a step further, with expertise in process assessments, project management services and remote administration; post-implementation audits; and even staff augmentation and other specialty services.

You’ll also want to look for an ERP partner who has an established relationship with the vendor(s) they work with. For example, RPI is an Alliance Partner specializing in Infor CloudSuite.

More Ways to Save Time and Money

As noted earlier, just having an ERP will save your organization time and costs. However, there are additional savings to be had when working with an ERP partner.

Time: An ERP partner can focus on the implementation of your system, allowing your in-house team to remain dedicated to their important day-to-day duties or vice versa. The result? A faster implementation and fewer distractions for your employees.

Money: By taking advantage of the proven expertise that comes with an ERP partner, you save on the cost of bringing in your own team of ERP experts. You also save on purchasing infrastructure and other resources, as the ERP partner will already have them in place.

Plus, depending on when the ERP partner is brought onto the project, they can assist in pre-planning, a critical step that aligns the stakeholders around the project strategy, ensuring greater overall success during the implementation.

More Overall Satisfaction

One more thing. An ERP vendor will tend to focus on the overall satisfaction of the organization at the end of the implementation. An ERP partner, however, will work continuously to improve your system as well as ensure the organization and the actual end-users of the ERP remain satisfied. That’s a benefit you just can’t get from a purely transactional business relationship!

Talk to A Proven ERP Partner Today

Even if you’ve already looked into ERP vendors, it’s well worth your while to investigate what an experienced ERP partner can do for you.

Learn how RPI will help your organization take advantage of all the benefits of a cloud-based Infor ERP solution; we’ve been partnering with companies like yours for 25 years. Contact us today.