ERP Product Selection
With substantial experience across a wide variety of software products — from both the customer and supplier perspective — AX Software can guide you through making the right decisions for your organisation by supporting your ERP product selection process.
Our consultants come from the “real world”, having been business managers before moving to the consultancy side. Most have been through their own ERP selection processes, and not all of those were Dynamics 365. This breadth of experience gives us a balanced, practical viewpoint that is invaluable when reviewing ERP options.
While we have deep Microsoft D365 specialisations, decades of ERP delivery experience mean we have accumulated expertise that benefits organisations who — quite understandably — are not specialists in ERP evaluation. Your expertise may be manufacturing, distribution or service delivery; ours is ERP and its allied technologies. It makes sense to seek the support of professionals.
Practice Does Make Perfect
Upgrading your ERP system is not an everyday occurrence, so it is unsurprising that many organisations have limited experience in the preparation and effort involved in selecting and changing what is core to business operations. As with any major undertaking, there is real value in having someone present who has done it before — especially when it is business‑critical to get it right.
AX Software has a small, dedicated, bi‑partisan team specialising in ERP selection and support. This may involve evaluating any software product, choosing the right Microsoft Partner, or identifying the best‑fit Dynamics solution — whether CE, BC or D365 F&O.
Our consultants ensure you are fully prepared: from gathering and structuring your requirements appropriately, through product reviews, right up to system deployment and go‑live. ERP selection and deployment is fundamentally about preparation, and we stand firmly by the well‑known phrase: “Fail to prepare and you prepare to fail.”
We can even support you with contract review, ensuring your business interests are protected in what is often a complex decision‑making process that most organisations encounter only once a decade. It is always easier to start in the right direction than to correct a poorly initiated project further down the line.
From requirements gathering to shortlist creation, software selection, implementation and deployment, we have something valuable to offer organisations of all sizes — SMEs, large multinationals, social enterprises, charities and NGOs. And we do so while speaking plain language, being direct, and avoiding the typical consultancy jargon.
Making The Right Choice
ERP product selection is a complex undertaking. There are many factors to consider, and organisations should not be overly influenced by a slick or personable sales team. In many cases, once the contract is signed, the sales team disappears and responsibility is handed off to a different delivery group. Although this is improving, it remains common among larger resellers. The Microsoft ecosystem also contains many products with similar‑sounding features, overlapping functionality and even familiar user interfaces — making expert guidance essential.
For example, determining whether Dynamics 365 CRM (Customer Relationship Management) or Microsoft CE (Customer Engagement) is the right fit requires an experienced review of both your requirements and your aspirations. While the products share certain capabilities, choosing between them without specialist input can push your organisation down an unexpected path later in the deployment.
There are many factors to consider — and it is not solely about product fit.
ERP Product Acquisition
During the early 2000s, following the surge in ERP sales driven by the millennium bug, the market offered far more ERP products than it does today. Many independent software houses benefitted from strong sales during that period. As organisations typically replace ERP systems every 5–10 years (often 10+ years for SMEs), selling up was the right choice for many vendors looking to capitalise on their market value.
This led to a rapid contraction in choice, further accelerated by the high cost of redeveloping older systems that had become technologically obsolete. These redevelopment challenges — and the false starts that accompanied them — reduced the number of viable ERP products even further.
Today, the ERP market is dominated by businesses with deep pockets. AI is accelerating this trend, raising an important question: what will become of ERP products not owned by major software companies over the next five years?
Partner Acquisition
When Microsoft entered the ERP market through its acquisitions of Navision and Damgaard’s Axapta, it rapidly expanded its reseller network. AX Software became one of the early Axapta resellers, but within a few years the market was crowded with small partners offering the same solutions. This helped drive growth, and as AX (as it was then known) benefitted from Microsoft investment, larger consultancy firms entered the market.
This triggered another wave of acquisitions as Microsoft partners achieved their five‑year growth plans and sold to larger organisations continuing to expand through acquisition.
For D365 users who originally purchased from a boutique reseller only to see them acquired by a larger corporation, the change may not feel dramatic — but costs often rise. A consultancy rate of £850 per day can quickly become £1,200 once the new parent company’s pricing structure is applied.
AX Software
AX Software has been here since 2006. With deep ERP knowledge and decades of experience, we help organisations get their ERP selection process right from the very start. We understand how the industry works — which is exactly why we are still here today.
