The extravagant cost of ERP consultants is a well-known fact. Like training expenses, this cost is hard to circumvent. Choosing a lesser-known ERP package to avoid premium-priced consultants won't necessarily help either. When users fail to plan for disengagement from the. existing system, consulting fees will overshoot the budget. To avoid this, companies should identify objectives for which its consulting partners must aim when training internal staff. It is good practice to include performance metrics and time schedules for the consultants. For example, a specific number of the company's staff should be trained to be at a certain specified level in a particular time period.

Although these five areas represent the biggest trouble spots for ERP budgeters, they're not the only source of hidden costs a company could encounter. To avoid getting hit by unexpe,cted expenses, veterans recommend assembling cross¬functional teams to identify the costs upfront. These teams should include both senior executives and the end users who will have daily contact with the ERP system, as lower-level employees will be able to provide a level of detail that executives alone may be likely to miss. Heeding advice from veterans and soliciting input from across different corporate functions will help those just diving into ERP to avoid overruns and make the software'~ payoff match its promises.
Even though most companies don't buy ERP just to save money, everyone is clearly happier when the costs come in as expected.