What is an ERP Consultant?

The bigger a business grows, the more time must be spent on tasks other than the core business activities. After a certain point, enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is essential, and in implementing or maintaining the system, the services of ERP consultants are vital. But what is an ERP consultant?

What Do ERP Consultants Do?

What kind of ERP consultant do you mean? Consultant is always a broad term, and in this field it is often broken down into three basic categories.

Each of those categories has multiple different names. However,, there are terms which are more common than the others.

Technical Consultants

Looking after the technical tasks involved in implementation or maintenance, technical consultants focus on system knowledge. They work on API integrations, configuration, custom coding and more.

Technical consultants often started out as ERP developers or programmers. Some may even move between those two job titles depending on the demands of the market.

Functional Consultants

Functional consultants are responsible for the strategic side of an ERP. They ask important questions about workflow and additional systems. The goal of this is to understand your business as it stands, so that the ERP system can be matched to it.
Functional consultants develop the skills needed to become project managers in the future.

Hybrid Consultants

Most consultants are actually partly hybrid. They have a little technical skill, if they’re functional; a little strategic understanding, if they’re technical. But a true hybrid ERP consultant harnesses both skills. In a project with budget only for one consultant, a hybrid must be found.

Hybrid consultants also make excellent project managers and leaders, if their communication skills are strong enough.

Talk to the Experts in ERP Consultant Recruitment

To find out what kind of consultant you need, and to ensure you have a job spec suitable for the right candidate, contact us directly for discussion.