Implementing a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution is an important investment for any business, regardless of their size or industry. It is, therefore, vital that every business makes sure that they have taken into consideration all the different parts that make up an overall budget for an ERP solution. In this blog, we look at the eight key parts that make up any ERP budget.

1. Deployment costs

An ERP can be deployed either on premises, in the cloud or as hybrid of both.

  • On premises deployment –the software is hosted by the customer on their server. Typically, the customer will buy a perpetual licence which has a high, upfront cost and then low ongoing costs until an upgrade is required when the version goes out of support.
  • Cloud-based deployment –the software is hosted and managed by the vendor and then provided to the customer on a subscription (either monthly or annual) basis. With a cloud-based deployment, the costs are lower upfront with support fees and any ongoing change requests.

2. Software licence costs

ERP software licence costs are affected by two things: the type of licences you purchase and the number of users per type of licence. With Bevica, there are a number of different licence types (see Bevica SaaS installation packages for details). The type of licence you will need will depend on the nature of your business and the drinks functionality you require.

The number of licences you go for will depend on how many people within your business need access to Bevica and the level of access (full versus limited) each user requires. When putting together your ERP budget, you need to bear in mind that the more licences you need, the more expensive your licence costs per month or per year will be.

3. Infrastructure costs

Implementing new ERP software could also mean the need for new infrastructure. If you are thinking of an on premise deployment, what are the hardware requirements of your new solution? Will you need to make any new infrastructure investments in order to ensure the long-term reliability and security of the solution?

If you decide on a cloud-based deployment, will your staff need new hardware to cope with the demands of a cloud-based business management system? Will you need to improve your IT security systems to ensure data security?

4. Integration costs

One of the benefits of a modern ERP solution, such as Bevica, is its ability to integrate with the many different software solutions that businesses make use of today. When putting together your ERP budget, it is important to do an audit of the software, both internal to the business and third-party solutions, that the ERP system will need to integrate with in order to ensure you have a “single source of truth” in your business.

Make sure your budget takes into consideration the financial and human resources required to integrate your new ERP with these solutions. Project management costs are often forgotten when budgeting for a new ERP system.

5. Customisations

The beauty of a modern ERP system, such as Bevica, is that many businesses are able to implement it “out of the box” with no customisations (see our Bevica Select rapid installation option). However, there are also businesses that both want and need a more bespoke, tailored system. These customisations require development time from your ERP partner and this time, along with its costs, needs to be factored into your overall project budget.

6. Add-ons

Bevica functionality out of the box is often satisfactory for many organisations. However, there are sometimes a number of tasks that crop up that you may need assistance with. To help you with these tasks, TVision Technology, and other third-party add-on vendors such as Continia and insightsoftware, have created a range of add-ons and extensions which make Bevica even more effective and productive for businesses. If you want to make use of any of these add-ons, implementation time and subscription costs need to be factored into your overall project budget.

7. Training costs

A good training base is a vital ingredient when it comes to successful user adoption and user acceptance of your new ERP system. Your budget should therefore take into consideration the training options available to you from your ERP partner and whether you need any further, bespoke training just for your business, your users, or your Superuser.

It is also important to consider the training needs of new users which may be added after your initial implementation. Ensure that the cost of training new users on the system is included in future budget considerations.

8. Support and maintenance costs

Regardless of how well your initial implementation went, most ERP solutions will need ongoing support and maintenance to ensure that the system keeps working optimally. Most ERP partners will offer a range of support packages and you need to ensure that these ongoing costs are budgeted for.

TVision’s support packages are banded depending on user/licence numbers. Our support offerings give a number of hours of support a month that can be spent on general enquiries/training. TVision has its own in-house support team and our packages also include access to our online customer support portal.

How can TVision Technology help?

If you are thinking of implementing a new drinks ERP solution, at TVision we believe that Bevica, powered by Business Central, is a robust and modern business management system for the drinks industry that will not only meet, but also exceed, your business needs.

TVision Technology is one of the largest and most experienced providers of Business Central and NAV in the UK. Our team takes real pleasure in working with our clients to develop, implement and support the best possible ERP implementation for their needs, and it’s this enthusiasm for our work that sees us keep our relationships with clients long after the initial implementation is complete.

If you want to know more about Bevica and how TVision could help you, please feel free to contact us to arrange a demo to see how a move to Bevica could be the right business move for your drinks business.