ERP consultant vs ERP advisor vs SI— who should lead your selection?

Objectivity wins selections; delivery discipline wins implementations. The leader you pick shapes both.

When leadership teams ask me who should run point on an ERP selection—an ERP consultant, an ERP advisor, or the system integrator (SI)—my answer starts with incentives and ends with deliverables. Stock demos look great. But your business will live with the data model, contract, and partner you select for years—often under renewal terms that are hard to unwind. The right lead keeps you independent, forces vendors to solve your day‑in‑the‑life scenarios, and bakes the “gotchas” (licensing, integrations, validation, data migration, testing) into the process—not discovered after signature.

Below is how I frame the decision, with examples pulled from real programs in life sciences, manufacturing, and distribution—kept vendor‑neutral and client‑anonymous by design.

What each role really means

• ERP Advisor (independent) - Executive‑level, vendor‑neutral quarterback. Defines decision criteria, designs the selection process, keeps a clean separation of duties (selection vs. delivery), and protects long‑term commercial terms (renewals, price holds, exit ramps). This is my default role when clients want objectivity and a defensible choice.

• ERP Consultant (domain specialist) - Hands‑on analyst/architect who translates business requirements into scripts, scorecards, and TCO models. Often part of an advisor‑led team. In regulated industries, your consultant must understand CSV, 21 CFR Part 11, quality flows, and audit trails—not just general “best practices.”

• System Integrator (SI / reseller / implementation partner) - The team that will configure, migrate, and integrate the software. Outstanding for delivery. But if an SI is also competing to implement, they have an unavoidable conflict leading the selection. You can still involve them—through scripted demos and estimates—without handing them the whistle.

  
  

Who owns what? (role clarity matrix)

Decision area	Independent Advisor	ERP Consultant	System Integrator (SI)
Problem framing & goals (value, risks, non‑negotiables)	✅	✅	➖ (input)
Requirements & acceptance criteria (incl. regulated controls)	✅	✅	➖ (input)
Demo design (“day‑in‑the‑life” using your data)	✅	✅	✅ (perform)
Scoring model & shortlisting	✅	✅	🚫
TCO, licensing model, renewal caps & price holds	✅	➖	➖
SOW and implementation risk review	✅	✅	➖
Reference calls & proof points	✅	✅	➖
Final recommendation (with dissent notes, if any)	✅	➖	🚫
Implementation planning (RACI, RAID, cutover, test strategy)	✅	✅	✅
Implementation execution	➖ (governance)	➖ (assurance)	✅ (delivery owner)

Legend: ✅ leads · ➖ contributes · 🚫 recuse

Bottom line: - Let the independent advisor lead selection; let the SI lead implementation—under your governance.

Where selections go wrong (and how we prevent it)

1. Demos that hide the edge cases

   Stock demos avoid the traps that later drive change orders. We replace theater with scripted, step‑by‑step scenarios: how a return with multiple lots flows, what happens to approvals when a user changes role mid‑period, how labeling and e‑signatures behave when a document is revised, how rebates/chargebacks or customer pricing hierarchies actually calculate, how a 3PL hand‑off reconciles, and what a failed integration retry looks like.

2. Contracts that lock you in

   Licensing can shift from named to consumption, sandboxes can cost extra, and renewal uplifts can spike once switching becomes painful. In selection we negotiate caps on renewals, price‑hold periods, user definition clarity, environment entitlements, and clear acceptance criteria so “go‑live” doesn’t mean “stuck.” We fix the “client responsible for data migration” clause by pinning down scope and ownership.

3. “We’ll validate later” in regulated businesses

   If you’re in medical device, pharma, or CDMO, validation isn’t a project phase—it’s a selection criterion. We make Part 11 electronic signatures, audit trails, role‑based security, document control, backup/restore, and training records first‑class requirements; then we map them to vendor evidence and your SOPs. That keeps IQ/OQ/PQ fast and targeted later, and prevents expensive re‑work.

4. Integration optimism

   “The API will handle it” is not a plan. Your RFP should show message sequence diagrams, error handling, ownership of retries, reconciliation reports, and SLAs—especially for AR automation, EDI, tax, PLM/QMS/LIMS, 3PL, and CPQ.

5. Data left to the last 60 days

   Selections that don’t expose COA design, item/variant strategy, units of measure, lot/serial, statuses, customers/vendors, pricing structures create costly refactors. We force early data model decisions and a pilot migration before signing.

Industry nuance that should change your selection

Life sciences (GxP‑ready)

• Bake electronic signatures, independent audit trails, role/permissions, training and document control into the URS and demo scripts; require vendors to show (not tell) how signatures manifest on records and PDFs, how audit history is independent and non‑erasable, and how access is limited by status (Draft/Effective/Superseded).

• Require risk‑based validation plans and sample test cases aligned to your SOPs; ask for evidence that backup/restore and disaster recovery are documented—not just marketing slides.

• For commercialization, include chargebacks/rebates and indirect pricing hierarchies in demos; life‑sciences price logic breaks many “generic” ERPs.

• Demand clarity on quality sampling, holds, and release to manufacturing, including AQL plans and how QC results block/allow movement.

Why this matters - Teams that choose on generic fit and push CSV later end up writing custom controls, validating more than necessary, or delaying go‑live. An advisor/consultant with medical ERP consulting depth avoids that.

Manufacturing

• Insist on day‑in‑the‑life from quote → plan → make → ship → close, showing finite capacity, setup/changeover planning, scrap recording, lot genealogy, and device history or batch record level traceability as applicable.

• Probe engineering change control: who can modify BOM/recipe, how revisions propagate, and what gets re‑approved.

• Confirm WIP costing and variance analysis align to how your controller closes the month.

• Validate barcode data collection on the floor (time, yield, label printing) in the demo—don’t accept “we can configure that.”

Why this matters - A manufacturing ERP consultant catches production realities and costing rules that demo crews gloss over.

Distribution

• Test multi‑branch replenishment, rebates, customer pricing hierarchies, chargebacks, FEFO/lot control, and 3PL hand‑offs with proofs (pick/pack/ship and reconciliation).

• For value‑add/processing, demand a work order or kitting demonstration that still respects distribution lead times and costing.

• Tighten order orchestration when ecommerce, EDI, and inside sales all feed the same inventory.

Why this matters - Many “ERP consulting for distribution” efforts judge only order entry speed; the misses show up in margin leakage and inventory accuracy later.

The deliverables that make a selection defensible

1. Business goals & risks (one page): value targets, non‑negotiables, “bad outcomes” to avoid.

2. URS & acceptance criteria that include controls (security, audit, approvals) and reporting—not just features.

3. Scripted demos with your data and pass/fail checkpoints.

4. Weighted scorecard with rationale and dissent notes.

5. Implementation risk review of each SI’s SOW (assumptions, data, integrations, testing, staffing).

6. Commercial guardrails: licensing dictionary, price holds, renewal caps, environment entitlements, acceptance criteria.

7. Reference call notes probing delivery team continuity, change orders, and post‑go‑live support.

8. 90‑day mobilization plan: RACI, RAID, environments, pilot migration, test strategy.

If your current plan doesn’t produce these artifacts, that’s your signal to put an independent advisor out front.

“So who should lead our selection?”

Use this quick decision guide:

• Regulated (GxP/Part 11) or high‑risk integration? → Independent ERP advisor supported by a consultant; SI recused from leading.

• Complex make/distribute with data and pricing nuance? → Advisor and ERP consultants for manufacturing or ERP consulting for distribution team to script demos and score.

• Mature PMO, light‑touch selection? → Advisor can coach and provide artifacts; SI participates in demos but does not run the process.

• You’ve already chosen the platform, picking an SI? → Advisor leads the SOW/risk/contract review and sets governance.

  
  

How I engage (briefly)

I act as the independent advisor, backed by hands‑on consultants. We don’t resell software and we don’t take referral fees. We design the process, run the scripts, pressure‑test SOWs, and protect long‑term commercial terms—then stay with you to keep the implementation honest. If you want a sample scorecard, demo script, or contract guardrails checklist, I’m happy to share—no pitch.

FAQ: common myths

• “Let the SI lead; it’s faster.” Faster to the wrong contract is not faster. Keep selection and delivery separate to protect objectivity.

• “Validation comes after design.” In FDA‑regulated businesses, validation starts in selection. Pick vendors with evidence for signatures, audit trails, and controls; write testable acceptance criteria.

• “We’ll sort out integrations mid‑project.” Every hour you invest in sequence/error‑handling/ownership now saves days later.

  
  

A simple starting plan

1. Two‑week framing + artifact sprint - Goals, risks, URS highlights, demo scripts, scoring model.

2. Vendor month - Scripted demos with your data; reference calls.

3. Commercial & delivery checks - TCO, contract guardrails, SI SOW review, 90‑day mobilization.

4. Decision with dissent notes - So the rationale survives leadership changes.

That cadence keeps momentum without skipping the discipline that makes the choice hold up in the real world.

Choosing who leads selection shapes everything that follows. If you want a neutral hand to define scenarios, run evidence‑based demos, and set contract guardrails (renewal caps, SLAs, change‑control), that’s our lane. We’ll meet you where you are—pressure‑test a path in a few working sessions or steward the full process—and leave you with clear artifacts your team and chosen SI can run with.