When you are going to choose your ERP, you have to choose it according to your business volume. If you are small to medium size business organization then you should always look for the solution which suits your business properly. And if your organization is big then you have to choose something which can manage the big business process and can give maximum productivity.
If you are a small and medium size organization, several things you have to keep in mind like what kind of system will be best for you open source, or on premise, on demand system. You have to take care while implementing and manage the system, either by hiring consultants from out side or you have to depend completely on your people.
One always has to remember that shootout means to deliver the better solution. If one is expecting Orange then the solution should be able to produce orange and not apple.
So while choosing the right vendor, emphasis has to on the type of the business, the actual business process like whether it's manufacturing business, or CRM process or any kind of supply chain or retail process.
After identifying the actual process, you need to think about number of users going to use it. Also you need to monitor what kind of geographical location it has to cross and what should be the projection of the system in a whole. After deciding all the factors then you should concentrate on the budget you can bear for the implementation of the system. Most of the time along with the ERP system many hardware extensions and some times some third party software need to be buy, so while budgeting these components should be taken into consideration, you should give a call to vendors.
You need to be very wise while choosing the proper vendor, because most of the time all vendors promises that their product is the best available in the market, and it has some bright record of success, never believe them blindfolded and trust your experts and take proper advice from them. Read the brochure given by them about the product very carefully. Always compare rates of your product from many vendors. And then come to the conclusion of which product you should buy.
Once you decide to go for the specific vendor always ask for demo to test the product for at least 15 to 20 days, and once you are satisfied then buy the product from your suitable vendor.
Read about ERP Definition and other related business terms. Find the list of top ERP Vendors and choose the right ERP vendor.