ERP guide · 9 min read
How to Choose an ERP Company in Sri Lanka
Choose an ERP company in Sri Lanka on how it delivers, not only on the software it sells. The right partner studies your operation before quoting, puts the scope and the price in writing, migrates your existing data, trains your staff and is reachable locally after go-live. ERP companies here broadly fall into three kinds — resellers of international ERP products, local vendors of packaged ERP, and developers who build or adapt ERP around your process — and each suits a different kind of business. Ask every shortlisted company the same questions, insist on references from businesses like yours, and treat a vague scope or pressure to sign quickly as reasons to walk away.
What you are really buying from an ERP company
An ERP licence is the smallest part of an ERP project. What decides whether it succeeds is everything around it: understanding how your business runs, configuring or building the system to match, moving your existing records across, training the people who will use it every day, and being there when something needs to change a year later.
That is why two companies offering similar software can produce very different results. When you compare ERP companies, you are comparing how they deliver as much as what they sell.
- A requirement study that looks at your actual process — the counter, the store room, the accounts — before anything is quoted
- A written scope that lists the modules, the phases and what is excluded
- Data migration from spreadsheets or your old system, checked before go-live
- Training for each role, and a period of running the old and new systems side by side
- Support after go-live from people who know your setup
The three kinds of ERP company in Sri Lanka
Most ERP companies operating in Sri Lanka fall into one of three groups. None is better in general — each fits a different kind of business.
| Reseller of an international ERP | Local packaged-ERP vendor | Developer of custom or adapted ERP | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What they supply | A global product — for example SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics or Odoo — configured by a partner | Their own ready-made ERP, configured for each client | An ERP built or adapted around your process |
| Best suited to | Larger companies with standard processes and in-house IT | Businesses whose process matches the product’s template | Businesses with non-standard stock, pricing or production rules |
| Fit to your process | You adapt to the product; customisation is possible but costly | Good where the template fits; limited beyond it | Built to fit; changes are part of the work |
| Typical cost profile | Licences plus partner fees; usually the highest | Licence or subscription plus setup | Development or adaptation cost, then support |
| Where the risk sits | Long implementations and ongoing licence cost | Workarounds wherever the template does not fit | The developer’s process and support |
A hardware store that buys cement by the tonne and sells it by the bag, or cuts pipe to length at the counter, often finds a standard template fighting its daily work. A business with conventional retail or service processes may be well served by a packaged product. Decide which group fits before comparing individual companies.
Questions to ask every ERP company before you sign
Ask each shortlisted company the same questions, in writing, and compare the answers side by side.
- Will you study how we operate before you quote — and will someone visit our premises?
- Will the quotation list every module, phase and exclusion in writing, and is the price fixed for that scope?
- Which businesses like ours have you implemented ERP for, and can we speak to one of them?
- How will our existing data be migrated, who checks it, and what happens if the figures do not match?
- Who trains our staff, and is there a period of running the old and new systems side by side?
- Who supports us after go-live — what hours, what response times, and is on-site help available where we are?
- How are changes and new modules priced after go-live?
- Who owns our data, and how do we export all of it if we ever leave?
- For custom work: who owns the source code?
- What happens if a key person on your team leaves during our project?
Red flags worth walking away from
- A price quoted before anyone has looked at how your business works
- A scope that fits on one page of bullet points, with no exclusions listed
- No references from businesses of your size or industry
- Pressure to sign quickly, or a discount that expires in days
- Vague answers about data migration — “we will import your Excel” is not a plan
- Support only by email, or only from another country, when your operation runs on a shop floor
- Terms that make it expensive or impossible to take your data elsewhere
Comparing quotations fairly
ERP quotations are rarely like for like. One may include data migration and training while another prices them separately; one may be a subscription while another is a one-off build. Before comparing totals, line the quotations up against the same scope and the same three-to-five-year period.
Our guide to ERP cost in Sri Lanka explains how ERP pricing is structured and what to check in each quotation — without pretending there is a single market price.
How Sydon Tech works as an ERP company
Sydon Tech is a Sri Lankan software company that builds and supports ERP — Sydon ERP — adapted to how each business already runs, alongside custom software, POS, CRM and HRM systems.
- A free requirement study, on site where practical, before anything is quoted
- A written module list, phase plan and fixed quotation — nothing is billed until it is accepted
- Phased development with data migration, training and a parallel run before go-live
- Built for non-standard stock: automatic unit conversion, cut-to-size item handling and fast counter billing
- Support after go-live from the team that built the system
Put the same questions to us as to anyone else on your shortlist. The right ERP company is the one whose answers you can check.