The cost of ERP software can go into the millions of dollars, yet businesses frequently don’t devote the same amount of time, knowledge, and resources to negotiating these contracts as they do for other significant capital expenditures. This is not to argue that businesses are unconcerned about the Cloud ERP pricing negotiation tips or the cost of deploying ERP software, but they frequently ignore some cost factors. Frequently, businesses are more concerned with the apparent factors: software costs, maintenance costs, hourly rates, and service scope. Read more on meyu.info
Contents
- Getting the Best Deal: Effective Cloud ERP Pricing Negotiation Tips
- Cloud ERP pricing negotiation tips: Recognize your roles and responsibilities
- Cloud ERP pricing negotiation tips: Recognize the Functionality and Scope of the Modules
- Cloud ERP pricing negotiation tips: Consider the cost of annual maintenance.
- Cloud ERP pricing negotiation tips: Be wary of assuming the first offer is the best one.
- Cloud ERP pricing negotiation tips: Examine the terms of the contract.
- Cloud ERP pricing negotiation tips: Avoid purchasing more software than necessary.
- Cloud ERP pricing negotiation tips: Distinguish between reality and FUD
- Conclusion
Getting the Best Deal: Effective Cloud ERP Pricing Negotiation Tips
Cloud ERP pricing negotiation tips: Recognize your roles and responsibilities
Some of our clients approach vendor negotiations with the intention of undercutting their provider on price. It’s not only about cutting costs when you negotiate a contract with your software vendor, though. Additionally, managing risk and defining roles and duties are important.
If the vendor has transferred all of the risk to you in order to reach the required quantity, a low-cost offer won’t help you much. Thankfully, the majority of vendors are open to negotiating duties and responsibilities.
As you study the vendor contract and the description of work, consider the following questions:
- Who is in charge of end-user training?
- Who is in charge of data moving and cleaning up? How much of the past will be transformed?
- Who will be in charge of managing all internal and external resource projects?
- What presumptions apply to modifications to the software’s configuration? If you were sold a “industry pre-configured” solution, this is very important.
- The vendor assumes you will commit how many internal resources to the project.
- System testing, business process testing, and integration fall under whose purview?
- Who will create the system’s security and system profiles?
- Who will be in charge of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, FDA system validation, and other legal requirements?
Cloud ERP pricing negotiation tips: Recognize the Functionality and Scope of the Modules
Continual software changes, several variations of the modules that are offered, and disconnects between the demo and proposal cycle can all lead to ambiguity.
As an illustration, not all Cloud ERP pricing negotiation tips suppliers combine functionality into the same modules. While one system’s customer relationship management (CRM) module might offer a powerful method of turning a lead into a customer with a corresponding order, other systems might call for the employment of an order entry module.
When sales teams demonstrate one version of a product while the proposal team assumes a different version of the software without clarifying the difference, companies may also experience misunderstanding.
Cloud ERP pricing negotiation tips: Consider the cost of annual maintenance.
Vendors make their real money at this point. Therefore, vendors often won’t raise this annual charge, especially if you’ve gotten a good bargain on software licenses.
Remember to at least specify a cap on the annual maintenance cost increases that suppliers may make. A excellent strategy to control costs is to ask the seller if they can keep the price constant for at least three years.
Cloud ERP pricing negotiation tips: Be wary of assuming the first offer is the best one.
Vendors often begin by offering software at their list price and lowering it from there, as with any negotiation.
Never be reluctant to urge your seller to lower the price of the software, especially when it comes to license fees. Because they have a variety of additional revenue streams, such as continuous maintenance, professional services, or training, vendors are often flexible with their software pricing.
Cloud ERP pricing negotiation tips: Examine the terms of the contract.
You shouldn’t pay for everything up front, therefore you should consider payment terms as well as what will happen if you don’t like the vendor’s technical implementation resources.
Cloud ERP pricing negotiation tips: Avoid purchasing more software than necessary.
One common mistake is buying more software than you require, whether it be in the form of extra users or modules. For instance, a mid-sized manufacturing company with whom we recently worked estimated that it had spent $600,000 on licenses that would not be put to use by the business any time soon.
The ability to increase your purchase over time is always simpler than the ability to reduce the number of licenses you have already committed to. Even if your Cloud ERP pricing negotiation tips vendor offers you a “once-in-a-lifetime” deal on software licenses, it’s possible that you’ll overcompensate for the cost savings by buying products you don’t require.
Don’t allow the “time-sensitive” discounts make you feel rushed. The majority of sales representatives will uphold discounted prices after the promotional time.
To avoid license price rises, we advise buying only what you require when you require it and pre-bargaining the price of subsequent purchases. When we arrange contracts on behalf of clients, they have the option to add extra licenses, modules, or users at pre-determined prices for a period of three years or longer.
Cloud ERP pricing negotiation tips: Distinguish between reality and FUD
In every sector, instilling fear, uncertainty, and doubt in the minds of potential customers is one of the most widely used sales techniques. Cloud ERP pricing negotiation tips system buyers frequently encounter similar methods, such as being told that only the vendor’s direct professional services group can handle the implementation or that the maintenance contract will be null and void if the software is installed and configured by an unlicensed consultant.
Understanding which messages are factual and which are false is crucial. This is a skill that is acquired through intensive training and work in the field.
Conclusion
A significant investment like an Cloud ERP pricing negotiation tips should be viewed as a lifetime investment. It’s not only a software purchase; it’s also a contract with ongoing maintenance costs that, in four to five years, will be greater than the cost of the product itself. It is important to exercise good due diligence, which includes reading the contract as well as evaluating the program and vetting the seller.