About

ERP decisions look simple until you have to live with them. The ABCs of ERP & Beyond is an independent podcast about choosing, implementing and living with ERP, made by people who have done the work and still deal with the consequences.

We publish a new conversation every two weeks. The aim is practical: help people make better decisions, avoid familiar mistakes and understand what ERP projects are really like away from the sales pitch and polished case study.

Who the show is for

Our listeners include:

• Owners and directors deciding whether the business has outgrown spreadsheets, entry-level accounting software or a legacy system
• CFOs, financial controllers and finance teams responsible for reporting, controls and month-end
• Operations, supply chain and plant managers living with the process and data problems every day
• IT and systems teams expected to own the implementation and everything connected to it
• ERP practitioners who enjoy a candid argument and want to hear how other people approach the work

Much of our experience comes from mid-market manufacturing and distribution, where the business has to keep taking orders, making things and shipping while the project is under way. The conversations are useful well beyond those sectors.

What you can expect

We cover ERP selection, data migration, implementation, go-live, training, change, integration, reporting and the things that go wrong. We start with brownfield reality: legacy data, partial adoption, workarounds, competing priorities and people who still have a day job.

We talk about trade-offs rather than reciting benefits. Sometimes the right answer is to replace a system. Sometimes it is to upgrade, fix the implementation or leave the system alone. We discuss Acumatica, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, NetSuite and other products by name, including their limitations.

Three different perspectives

Peter Nicholson and Nirav Shah started the podcast in 2023. Emily Browning later joined as the permanent third host.

Peter brings the in-house systems and data view from a business running ERP day to day. Nirav brings the implementation-partner view from manufacturing and distribution projects. Emily brings the business-process, IT and project-management view. We do not always agree, which usually makes for a better episode.

Independent by design

The ABCs of ERP & Beyond is a joint project run by Peter, Nirav and Emily. It is not a publication of Simple Progress Consulting or any software vendor.

Our hosts and guests may work with ERP vendors, partners or customers. When a commercial relationship matters to a discussion, we make it clear in the episode or its notes. We do not accept paid editorial coverage, and vendors do not review our conclusions before publication.

How we use writing and research tools

Tools may help us transcribe recordings, check research or prepare a first draft. A human reviews and approves everything we publish. The hosts remain responsible for the arguments, examples and mistakes.

Listen to the latest episode, or email [email protected] with a question, correction or topic we should tackle.