Implementing another solution while undergoing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) upgrade may seem daunting. While necessary, IT infrastructure adjustments are costly in time, effort, and money.
Generating enough buy-in to facilitate one system upgrade is challenging enough. Building enough internal momentum to open the door for a dual implementation of an ERP and Pricefx is potentially even more challenging to green-light. However, implementing pricing software while your IT team is already engaged and working through data and integrations is often the perfect time. The incremental effort may be very low, and the ROI from improving your pricing operations can often pay for your entire IT transformation project.
At Canidium, our experienced Pricefx implementation team helps clients weigh the pros and cons of integrating pricing solutions. With our broad strategic portfolio, we are uniquely positioned to help an organization navigate simultaneous implementations in an organized way.
This article provides all the information you need to determine if a dual implementation may benefit your organization. It explains whether you can design and integrate both solutions simultaneously, how the completed platforms work together, and the three most important benefits to consider.
The answer is yes. You can implement Pricefx and an ERP solution simultaneously if you generate enough internal buy-in to perform both system upgrades. Building this buy-in can be easy so long as you can deliver each solution's benefits to your team. The two solutions are complementary—Pricefx and ERPs work together to create an intelligent pricing ecosystem within a company's digital infrastructure.
In 2023, 50% of companies reported planning, actively acquiring, or upgrading an ERP system. Many companies implement ERP solutions as a central part of their digital transformation strategy. This represents a seachange in a company's internal digital landscape, often pushing leadership to consider other potential key strategic software implementations that could provide a competitive edge.
Pricefx emerges as one logical complement to an ERP implementation for companies focused on boosting profit margins through digital transformation.
Conducting a dual implementation does come with added challenges. One of the primary requirements in implementing a pricing solution alongside an ERP upgrade involves the necessity for collaboration from another department—typically pricing, sales, or finance—. Managing this added workload requires enhanced coordination efforts. However, despite this additional complexity, companies can implement Pricefx simultaneously with an ERP or directly after going live with their ERP, and most of the time, it is a highly advantageous investment.
ERP systems manage various business data, including inventory levels, sales history, customer information, products, and production costs. Pricefx can leverage this data to implement your pricing strategy, helping businesses set prices based on real-time insights and historical patterns.
When appropriately integrated, ERP software and Pricefx can enhance visibility, efficiency, and decision-making capabilities. Pricefx is a cloud-based, standalone application that integrates with a company's ERP system, which hosts all the pricing rules and various other functions.
When a customer makes a purchase, the system consults these pricing rules to determine the appropriate figure to apply to the customer's invoice. This figure could be a quoted price, list price, or another form of pricing. Prices might be based on a formula, such as cost plus a markup, or could vary by specific markets.
This cohesive ecosystem produces a more dynamic and strategically flexible pricing structure, allowing you to maximize the margins of every sale.
Beyond the benefits of Pricefx and ERP implementations individually, the two solutions amplify each other. When you begin a Pricefx project in tandem with an ERP replacement or integration, you can achieve a more sophisticated system with greater efficiency.
The convergence of these two powerful platforms elevates operational efficiencies and pricing intelligence, fostering a more responsive and strategically aligned business model. Dual implementations leverage improved pricing strategies, real-time data analytics, automate critical processes, and provide a holistic view of the pricing landscape, ensuring that strategic decisions are data-driven and aligned with market demands. However, pursuing a dual implementation will still require additional work, making it imperative that the benefits outweigh the initial fees you will incur.
In the interest of informed decision-making, here are the most prominent benefits of a dual ERP and Pricefx implementation.
ERP upgrades or implementations are often necessary for IT maintenance, but they do not produce any boost in profits. While the efficiency gains from an ERP system replacement or upgrade generally have a long-term ROI, this implementation does not pay for itself as rapidly as solutions such as Pricefx.
On average, companies take 2.5 years to see an ROI for ERP implementations, while some Pricefx customers achieve ROI payback in six months or less. Pricefx generates a significant ROI in a relatively short timeframe, which helps offset the costs of the ERP implementation with Pricefx itself.
The synergy between Pricefx and ERP systems underscores the strategic value of investing in solutions that directly contribute to profitability in a short timeframe. If you are looking to justify the expenses related to ERP upgrades or new implementations, coupling these investments with the implementation of Pricefx could be a game-changer, offering a quicker path to realizing financial benefits and increasing the overall project ROI.
By implementing ERP and pricing solutions concurrently, organizations can quickly realize the benefits of both systems. This accelerated value realization contributes to a quicker payback period and higher overall ROI. The enhanced capabilities provided by this dual approach, from improved pricing accuracy to streamlined operations, empower businesses to respond more swiftly and effectively to market demands.
You can optimize training and change management efforts in a dual implementation scenario. Instead of preparing and executing separate training programs for each new system, organizations can develop comprehensive training that covers both the ERP and pricing solution, highlighting their integration points and how they complement each other. This holistic approach to training saves time and provides users with a deeper understanding of the systems' interconnectedness, facilitating smoother adoption and minimizing resistance to change.
Dually implementing ERP and pricing solutions can also allow for a more seamless integration of core business processes, leading to improved operational performance and more effective utilization of data across the organization. With a tightly integrated system, companies can quickly adjust pricing strategies based on internal factors like cost changes or external factors like market demand and competitor pricing. This agility will help you maintain a competitive advantage in volatile economic conditions.
Companies can centralize their efforts to improve data quality across ERP and pricing systems by undertaking data cleansing activities during a dual implementation. This approach allows for identifying and correcting errors, duplicates, and inconsistencies in a single, coordinated effort rather than separate, potentially overlapping initiatives. Centralized data cleansing ensures that all departments have the same high-quality information, leading to more accurate price setting, analytics, reporting, and business decisions.
Clean, well-organized data helps you get the most out of sophisticated pricing capabilities, including price setting, quoting, predictive analytics, and AI-driven insights. You can ensure accurate insights inform your decision-making by ensuring data quality upfront.
With a software implementation (SI) partner implementing two solutions concurrently, data cleansing can better meet the specific requirements of the integration, ensuring seamless data flow and interoperability from day one. This streamlined approach speeds up the implementation process and reduces the likelihood of post-integration issues related to data quality.
Implementing Pricefx and your ERP upgrade can result in a more dynamic and flexible pricing infrastructure. Pricefx's rapid ROI can decrease the time it takes to recoup your investment in an ERP system or upgrade, and streamlining factors such as data preparation and training reduce the overall cost of implementing both solutions.
If you are considering an ERP implementation or upgrade, you should take into account the future benefits of a pricing system with both solutions. The synergistic data sharing between the two platforms offers a one-time chance to transform your pricing processes. To generate enough buy-in to facilitate a dual implementation, you will need to clearly outline how the two solutions benefit each other and the organization as a whole.
Read more about how to build project buy-in for Pricefx to learn how to communicate the solution’s value to stakeholders.