01. The five lines that make up a quote
An ERP quote breaks down almost the same way whoever issues it. Knowing how to read those five lines lets you compare two proposals that, on the surface, look nothing alike.
The most visible line — licences or hosting — is rarely the heaviest. Data migration and integrations are what tip a budget, because they depend on the state of your existing systems rather than on the software.
- The number of users and sites: an ERP for three people on one site does not carry the load of one for forty across four warehouses.
- The modules actually deployed: purchasing, stock, sales, invoicing, accounting, production. Each adds configuration and training.
- Migrating your data: the most consistently underestimated line. Clean files migrate quickly; ten years of accumulation needs cleaning work.
- Integrations: till, online shop, bank, carrier. Each connection is a piece of development, not a checkbox.
- Industry configuration: what your sector requires and no standard setup covers.
02. Why nobody can publish a serious price
A price on a page assumes an average company that does not exist. Two businesses in the same sector, with the same headcount and the same turnover, can have ERP budgets differing threefold, because one already keeps clean data and the other discovers mid-project that three departments count stock differently.
That is also why a quote handed over without a scoping phase is a bad sign. It can only be a bet: either it is inflated to cover the unknown, or it will be revised once work begins. Either way, you are paying for the uncertainty.
Scoping exists precisely to remove that uncertainty. It means mapping the processes you actually run — with their exceptions — before naming a figure. It takes days to weeks, and it determines how reliable everything after it will be.
03. Adapting an existing base or building from scratch
This is the decision that weighs most on the budget, and it is taken before choosing a supplier. Starting from something already running in production and adapting it cuts both time and cost sharply: most of the software exists, it is proven, and the work goes into configuration, migration and training.
Fully bespoke development earns its place when no existing base describes your business without you having to bend it. That is true of some industries, some pricing models, some regulatory constraints. Elsewhere, it is expensive work to rebuild what already exists.
The useful reflex is to ask your supplier what they already run in production and what they intend to start from. A precise answer tells you everything about what follows; a vague one announces an open-ended invoice.
04. What to plan for after go-live
An ERP does not stop on delivery day. Three lines recur every year and deserve to be costed from the outset rather than discovered at the first incident.
Corrective maintenance covers faults. Security updates protect the data. Enhancements follow your growth: a module added, another warehouse, a new legal obligation. A contract silent on all three is simply postponing the conversation.
- Corrective maintenance and a warranty on faults.
- Security updates and tested backups.
- Functional enhancements as you grow.
- Training for new joiners.
05. Questions to ask before signing
These cost nothing and reveal a lot. A supplier who answers all five precisely has already done the work; one who dodges them will bill you later for what they would not examine now.
- What base are you starting from, and is it already in production elsewhere?
- What happens if my data turns out to be dirtier than expected?
- Do the code and the data belong to me, and in what form are they handed over?
- Who trains my teams, and over how long?
- What is the annual cost after the first year?