Especially for a company who hasn't had an ERP system before, and this is their first time doing the research, the process can be daunting, confusing and very stressful. The number of ERP systems on the market is staggering. Dozens of options exist for every industry and niche out there. You'll need to do online research, ask colleagues, and try to gather reams of data from potentially dozens of systems and pare it down to get demos from a few systems.

Through your research you'll find that some systems are built on technology that is really old and clunky but feature rich, some are very new and look great, but may be lacking features, and everything in between. It's hard to decipher which is which, and what system will be the best for you.

When you follow a thoughtful process and avoid the mistakes outlined in our guide, the chance of choosing the right system and getting it successfully implemented will be much higher.