Module 21 · Foundation · 8 min read

ERP selection basics

You will be able to: Run a fair selection with weighted criteria and scripted demos; Estimate five-year total cost, not just licence price; Advise a client honestly about fit.

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Many clients ask for help choosing before they have decided anything. Your job is to make the choice rational, not to win it. A selection has five steps.

  1. Write down why: the three problems that justify spending money.
  2. List requirements and weight them. Keep the list short and testable.
  3. Shortlist two or three products. More than that wastes time.
  4. Run scripted demos: the client's own scenarios, not the vendor's favourite ones.
  5. Compare weighted scores and five-year cost, then check references.

A weighted scorecard

Give each criterion a weight, score each product from 1 to 5, multiply and divide the total by 5 to get points out of 100.

CriterionWeightProduct A (score)Product B (score)
Fit to core processes3045
UAE VAT and local compliance2053
Ease of use and training1534
Deployment fit1043
Partner and vendor support1534
Five-year cost1042

Product A: (30x4 + 20x5 + 15x3 + 10x4 + 15x3 + 10x4) / 5 = 390 / 5 = 78 points. Product B: (150 + 60 + 60 + 30 + 60 + 20) / 5 = 380 / 5 = 76 points. A two-point gap is noise. Do not announce a winner; run another scripted demo on the criteria where they differ.

Total cost over five years

Illustrative cost, not a Zeyto price listImplementation services AED 40,000, server hardware AED 6,000 once, licence AED 10,000 a year, support AED 3,000 a year, refresher training AED 2,000 a year in years 2 to 5. Five-year total: 40,000 + 6,000 + (5 x 10,000) + (5 x 3,000) + (4 x 2,000) = 40,000 + 6,000 + 50,000 + 15,000 + 8,000 = AED 119,000. Notice that implementation is a third of the total: a cheap licence with a weak partner is not cheap.

What to say about Zeyto

  • Prices are published in AED and exclusive of VAT; the pricing page states a flat licence with no per-transaction fees.
  • A seat is a named user who can sign in; POS terminals and the mobile app are counted per plan.
  • A client can open the hosted demo with no install and request a trial licence through a free My Zeyto account.
Watch outNever criticise other products by name or claim features Zeyto lacks. Ask the client to test their own scenarios in the demo and judge for themselves.
TipA reference call with a similar business, same size and same industry, is worth more than any brochure.

Practise in the demo

  1. Pick three criteria important to a business you know and weight them to 100.
  2. Run one of the client's scenarios in the demo: create a customer, raise an invoice and view the Posting Trail.
  3. Open https://demo.zeyto.app/demo-app/ and sign in with the demo login. This is a public demo with sample data, so nothing you do there affects a real business.
Open the live demo

Public demo company, sign in as admin / demoAdmin123. Data refreshes nightly.

Key takeaways
  • Select with weighted criteria, scripted demos and five-year cost.
  • Small score gaps mean you need more evidence, not a winner.
  • Be honest about fit and never name competitors.

Check yourself

4 questions on this lesson. Not timed, not the exam, and you can try again. Score 60% or more, and read the lesson, to complete it.

1. Which is a red flag in an ERP selection?

2. A weighted scorecard result of 78 against 76 is strong enough proof to announce a winner.

3. Product A scores 78 points and Product B 76 on a weighted scorecard. What is the soundest next step?

4. Implementation AED 40,000, server AED 6,000 once, licence AED 10,000 a year, support AED 3,000 a year, refresher training AED 2,000 a year in years 2 to 5. What is the five-year cost?

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Practice questions for this module · Printable study sheet