ERP Selection: What Construction Leaders Must Know

ERP Isn’t Just Software—It’s a Business Transformation

If you’re thinking about upgrading your ERP system, understand this first—it’s not just a software decision. It’s a transformation that impacts every layer of your business. For CFOs, COOs, and owners in the construction industry, the stakes are especially high. Selecting a new ERP system isn’t just about features or vendors—it’s about aligning technology with business strategy, capacity, and execution.

What makes ERP selection so challenging is that it feels overwhelming before it even begins. Most leadership teams are balancing normal operations, tight deadlines, and workforce limitations. The idea of adding another major initiative to the pile makes people default to the path of least resistance. That’s why so many companies stick with their outdated, underperforming platforms—because the pain of change feels worse than the pain of staying put.

But that’s short-term thinking. If your ERP system is causing inefficiencies, poor reporting, or manual workarounds, the cost of inaction is likely growing every day. The better approach is to face the complexity head-on—with a disciplined process and the right team in place.

Start with the Right Team—Then Build a Strategy

Start by assembling a selection committee that brings together multiple parts of the organization. This isn’t about designing by committee. It’s about making sure the final decision reflects the needs of all users.

An executive sponsor—usually the CFO or COO—needs to lead the charge. As the team leader your role in this process is not just to sign off on a vendor; it’s to ensure that the new system aligns with your long-term business strategy, enhances operational performance, and delivers measurable return on investment.

Operations and finance leads must be at the table to identify workflows, reporting needs, and internal controls. IT plays a critical role in assessing technical feasibility, integration capability, and security risks. And equally important, key end users need to be involved from day one. Their input ensures usability isn’t an afterthought. Some companies also benefit from an external consultant to bring structure, accountability and unbiased guidance to the table.

Don't Chase Features—Solve Real Problems

One mistake many companies make is chasing features instead of solving problems. It’s easy to get excited by slick user interfaces or demo theatrics. But unless the system directly addresses your pain points—like field time tracking, job cost reporting, or subcontractor billing—the technology becomes another layer of complexity instead of a tool for clarity.

If you find yourself looking for a new accounting system, it often means you are dissatisfied with the reporting of your current solution; Or perhaps it requires too many workarounds and makes both Accounting and operations inefficient.

The most effective selection teams invest time in evaluating their current workflows and identifying what’s broken, A strategic approach involves identifying organizational pain points and mapping them against the capabilities of potential systems. Modern ERP systems have awesome native feature sets that make reporting and workflows more efficient. It is important to consider where your organization is coming from and measuring the technological leap you may be asking the organization and your employees to take. This is where a “Needs vs. Wants” matrix becomes essential.

Something else to keep an eye on is your organizations tolerance of change. Before you select any system, you should document your existing workflows, identify inefficiencies, and map out a vision of where you want the business to be in the next 3 to 5 years. That vision should include not just technology, but people. Do you have the internal skills, capacity, and culture to support a modern ERP system? If not, now is the time to plan for training, hiring, or consulting support. Creating a formal change management plan at this stage ensures you’re not just buying software—you’re building the foundation for a transformed organization.

Control the Demo—Don’t Be Controlled by It

Vendor demonstrations can be valuable—or completely misleading—depending on how you manage them. When you participate in vendor demos, don’t let the software drive the agenda. Come prepared with use cases—your real business scenarios—and make the vendors show how their solution addresses them. Don’t just watch the screen; analyze the implications. What will need to change operationally to make this system work? Are your people ready for that change?

And most importantly, involve your internal stakeholders in the demo sessions and debrief using a standardized scoring method. It’s too easy to get seduced by a good presenter.

At Ascent, we act as your advocate and coordinate all demonstrations as well as prep the vendors to make the demonstrations as effective as possible.

Understand Total Cost of Ownership—Not Just the Quote

Cost comparisons are equally tricky. Licensing models vary dramatically—named users, concurrent users, base modules, premium modules—it’s rarely apples to apples. Implementation and support costs are often buried or ambiguous. The only way to truly understand what you're buying is to create a leveling sheet that outlines every cost element across all vendors.

But don’t make price your deciding factor. The better question is: what business value does each solution deliver? Will it reduce manual entry? Will it improve forecasting accuracy? Will it scale with growth?

Choosing a new ERP is one of the most impactful decisions a leadership team can make. Only a few people will stand up a new accounting system once in their careers. If you have experience with selecting & implementing a new ERP you are in rare company. With the right structure, team, and mindset, you can select a platform that will support your business through its next stage of growth while not overwhelming your team.

Ascent has advised many companies to select a new ERP. Through a disciplined process we guide our clients through the analysis to determine needs and wants, manage the demonstration process, prepare feature leveling and cost analysis and help to negotiate the final pricing.

If you think it’s time that your organization upgrades its ERP system schedule a free consultation with one of our consultants.

Read More: ERP Implementation - A Construction Leader's Guide

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