Adopting any kind of business software solution can be a complicated process. Not only do organizations need to know what is on the market, but what they need the system to do.

A recently released white paper examined the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) landscape and offered advice for any organization considering a change of business enterprise solutions.

"An ERP system is a series of software applications or modules that collects data from your sales, purchasing, finance, inventory, supply chain, manufacturing and quality functions into a common database so that your company can share the information, coordinate activities and collaborate," the report reads. "If you're looking for your first ERP system or looking to upgrade from an existing system, the evaluation, selection and implementation process is a long-term strategic decision for your organization."

The report goes on to layout several steps that organizations should take in order to successfully deploy an ERP system. These include:

• Evaluate – A diverse internal team needs to be created that can provide feedback from all aspects of the business to make sure enterprise-wide acceptance of the final decision.
• Assessment – Examine the systems that are currently in use to see where the gaps or what challenges could come from.
• Establish criteria – Following the assessment, this is where businesses determine what it will require an ERP system to do. This can included features, price and platform. They should then be ranked by importance.

At this point, organizations should follow the standard procedure of any enterprise purchase, meet with multiple vendors, create a shortlist, prepare questions and check references.

The report concludes by saying the best course of action could be to partner with an external business management software solution provider to make the process easier.