How can an ERP offshore team help you succeed with tasks?

An ERP team can help you enhance the efficiency of practically any part of your organisation, from HR to sales. You can expect greater agility, more reliable and advanced reporting, and a more streamlined IT structure that will support your bottom line by boosting the productivity of your teams.

How do I calculate ROI on offshore ERP development?

Here are some of the key ways to measure ROI in your offshore ERP initiative: Productivity: Is your team more productive thanks to the ERP? Efficiency: Are your processes and approvals more streamlined? Upskilling and knowledge base: Is there more ERP knowledge within the company? Speed: Can new ERP needs, such as compliance changes or module rollouts, be addressed more quickly? Collaboration: Do your offshore engineers use the same tools and processes as in-house staff? Innovation: Once the basics are stable, is offshoring allowing for new integrations, automations, and analytics?

Can I hire a freelance ERP consultant instead of a firm?

If you’re looking for a long-term ERP solution, a freelance consultant is unlikely to be able to offer the deep integration you need to build, implement, and maintain your ERP system. Instead, it’s best to work with consultants who are fully embedded into your organisation. They will have a better in-house understanding of the challenge at hand and the users who will be interacting with the ERP.

What are the costs associated with ERP implementation?

Software licenses/subscriptions: This can be a one-time purchase for on-premise solutions or recurring subscription fees for cloud-based ERPs. Hardware (for on-premise): Servers, networking equipment, and other infrastructure if the ERP system is hosted internally. Implementation services: Fees for consultants to help with installation, configuration, customisation, data migration, and integration with existing systems. This is often a significant portion of the total cost. Customisation: Costs for tailoring the ERP to specific business processes that aren't covered by standard features. This can include developing new reports, workflows, or integrations. Maintenance and support: Ongoing fees for technical support, software updates, and bug fixes. Integration: Costs associated with connecting the ERP system to other critical business applications (e.g., CRM, e-commerce platforms, HR systems). Personnel: Internal staff time dedicated to the ERP project, including project managers, subject matter experts, trainers, change management experts, and IT staff.

How long does ERP implementation typically take?

Small businesses: 3–6 months Medium-sized businesses: 4–12 months Large businesses: 9–24 months, or longer for very complex projects.

How to build an offshore ERP development team: Strategies, risks & ROI

Build a strong Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) team offshore by following these best practices:

Choose offshoring for long-term development and outsourcing for short-term projects
Partner with a high-quality offshore development company to recruit top talent (ERP talent hotspots include India, Ukraine, and Poland)
Define your scope, unify your stakeholders, set up your governance structure, and properly onboard and engage your offshore team for long-term ERP success

You’ve heard it time and time again: digitise, digitise, digitise.

While AI has taken over digitisation discussions in recent years, CTOs shouldn’t forget that they have another powerful set of automation tools at their disposal: Enterprise Resource Planning systems, or ERPs.

ERPs like SAP, Workday, and Microsoft Dynamics 365, when fully customised to the needs of your organisation, are key modernisation drivers that can transform operational efficiency and productivity, and improve the reliability of your reporting.

Whether you’re considering a full offshore ERP implementation or looking to expand your current capabilities, building an offshore ERP development team can help you find certified specialists and subject matter experts at the right price.

In this article, we will walk through top strategies for building an offshore ERP, plus common challenges and how to solve them, to make sure you’re scaling in a way that supports strong ROI.

What is an offshore team in ERP development?

An offshore ERP team refers to a group of software professionals who build, implement, and maintain ERP solutions for your organisation while located in another country.

While there are many different ways to hire offshore developers, generally, your ERP team will be recruited by a third-party offshoring services provider who collaborates with you to match profiles to the skill sets you need.

While an ERP can benefit practically every part of your organisation, from HR and finance to sales and marketing, these systems come with one key caveat: ERP modules can’t just be taken straight off the shelf and implemented.

Whether we’re talking about Oracle or Odoo, each ERP needs to be fully customised by experienced consultants who can tailor the base system to fit your specific processes, reporting needs, and access authorisations.

Getting this customisation right requires a comprehensive knowledge of your company, its governance structures, and the users who will be interacting with the ERP, which is why picking the correct offshore model for your needs is crucial when moving this development abroad.

Comparing offshore models for ERP development

Let’s focus on two of the main models that companies use to build offshore teams: offshoring and outsourcing.

While these terms are often used interchangeably, they actually represent two different ways to hire offshore ERP developers.

Whereas offshoring with a dedicated team involves hiring in-house professionals that simply sit in a remote office, outsourcing means contracting temporary profiles who are not incorporated into your organisation. Instead, these external developers work directly for the outsourcing company that is connecting you to talent, and are fully managed by that company.Essentially, outsourced teams are assigned to work on your project, complete it, and move on, whereas offshore teams are integrated into your organisation and stay with you long term.

While both models have benefits, there are specific use cases where one works better than the other. Let’s take a look at them.

Offshoring is the better choice when:	Outsourcing is the better choice for:
Long‑term ERP ownership is criticalYou want knowledge to stay inside your business, not walk away with a vendor.	Short‑term or one‑off projects i.e., a quick SAP upgrade, patching, or compliance update.
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