Consulting · System selection
First know what you need. Then look at vendors.
Most system selections run the other way round: three demos, then an attempt to fit your own requirements to what you saw. We reverse the order and make the comparison traceable.
Why system decisions go wrong so often
A product demo is a sales event. It shows what the product can do, not what your business needs. Walk into three demos without written requirements and you end up deciding on rapport and user interface, then discover twelve months later that the one process that really matters only works with an add-on module.
The second mistake is the completeness trap. List everything conceivable and you get a system that does everything adequately and nothing well, at a price nobody planned. Requirements have to be weighted: what is a knockout criterion, what is desirable, what is decoration.
The third mistake is leaving data migration and interfaces until after the decision. That is precisely where the costs appear that make the earlier price comparison worthless.
So this engagement delivers three things in this order: a weighted requirements catalogue drawn from your processes, a shortlist of fitting systems, and a comparison that justifies every rating. You make the decision, but afterwards you can explain it to anyone in the business.
We state openly where we have a stake. The section on our interests is further down this page, not in the small print.
What happens during the consulting days
- Derive requirements from your processes
- We work through your central processes and derive what the system has to do. Requirements come from the work, not from a vendor feature list.
- Weighting into must, should and could
- Every requirement is classified. Must criteria rule systems out, should criteria decide between the survivors, could criteria are decoration. Without that separation the longest feature list wins.
- Shortlist and structured comparison
- The catalogue yields a manageable number of fitting systems. We compare them point by point, including licensing model, data migration, interfaces and running cost over three years.
- Recommendation with reasoning and risks
- You get a reasoned recommendation, explicitly including the points where the recommended system is weaker and what can go wrong during rollout.
How the engagement runs
- Initial call, free of charge, about 30 minutes We set the frame: which area, which budget, which timing. And whether replacing a system is the right answer at all.
- Day 1: requirements survey Conversations with the areas that will work with the system. The output is the raw requirements catalogue.
- Analysis: catalogue and shortlist We weight the requirements, review the market and assemble the shortlist. This time is not billed as a consulting day.
- Day 2: walking through the comparison We go through the comparison with you, correct weightings, and decide which systems go to a demo and which questions get asked there.
- Report and handover Requirements catalogue, comparison, recommendation with reasoning and risks, plus a question list for the vendor meetings.
What you hold at the end
- Weighted requirements catalogue
- Your requirements in writing, split into must, should and could. Reusable for later tenders.
- System comparison with reasoning
- Every rating with source and note, so it stays traceable afterwards why one system came out ahead.
- Three-year cost picture
- Licences, rollout, data migration, interfaces and operation, so the comparison does not stop at the monthly price.
- Question list for vendor meetings
- The questions that actually settle something in a demo, instead of watching the standard presentation.
What is not part of this engagement
- No rollout and no migration
- Setup, data migration and training are separate services with their own quote and invoice.
- No licence sales within the engagement
- The engagement ends with the recommendation. Whether you buy licences through us or directly from the vendor is a separate decision.
- No contract review
- Licence and maintenance contracts belong to legal review. We name the critical points but do not assess them legally.
- No guarantee of vendor pricing
- Prices in the comparison are list prices or experience values. A price becomes binding only in the vendor's quote.
Our interests, disclosed
WISSEN BERATUNG is an official Odoo Learning Partner and sells, implements and supports Odoo, as well as Microsoft 365 licences and Superchat. That means we are not a neutral third party for those products in a system selection, and we do not claim to be. We handle it in a way you can check. The report states for every system whether we earn from it. For every system we sell, we explicitly name the cases where it is the wrong choice, and we put at least two alternatives from other vendors alongside it on equal footing. If you need a selection where nobody earns from the outcome, say so: we then limit ourselves to the requirements and question catalogue and leave out the recommendation, or we name you an independent consultant.
Effort and price
Usually two to three consulting days
A bounded area such as CRM or inventory management fits into two days. A full ERP selection across several departments needs three. 1,250 euro per consulting day of eight hours, plus VAT, travel and, where required, accommodation.
1,250 euro per consulting day of 8 hours, plus VAT, travel and, where required, accommodation.
What that means in figures
| Consulting days | Fee, net |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1,250 euro |
| 2 | 2,500 euro |
| 3 | 3,750 euro |
| 4 | 5,000 euro |
| 5 | 6,250 euro |
1,250 euro per consulting day of 8 hours, plus VAT, travel and, where required, accommodation.
System selection: Frequently asked
What does a system selection cost?
1,250 euro per consulting day of eight hours, plus VAT, travel and accommodation where required. Two to three days is typical, so 2,500 to 3,750 euro net.
You sell Odoo yourselves. Can you advise neutrally?
Not entirely, and we do not claim to. The report discloses for every system whether we earn from it, names explicitly where our own products do not fit, and puts alternatives from other vendors alongside on equal footing. If you want a selection free of any interest of ours, we deliver only the requirements and question catalogue, or name you an independent consultant.
How many systems do you compare?
After the shortlist, usually three to five. More makes the comparison unreadable, fewer misses alternatives. Which ones follows from the must criteria, not from a preference.
Do we even need a new system?
Often not. A frequent outcome is that the existing system stays and two processes change or one interface gets added. Replacement costs money, time and nerves and has to pay for itself.
Can you attend the vendor meetings?
Yes, that is an additional half or full day. It is worth it particularly when technical commitments are made that should later appear in the contract.
What about migrating data from the old system?
We estimate it inside the comparison, because it is regularly the most expensive item of a rollout. A dependable estimate is only possible once the old system's data has been inspected.
Talk it through first
A 30-minute call clarifies whether an engagement is the right instrument. If it is not, we say so there.
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