How to Choose an ERP Provider in Ethiopia: 10 Questions to Ask

• Most companies compare ERP providers by price and a demo. Both matter, but neither tells you whether the provider can deliver a system your team will actually use. The questions below do. Use the same list with every provider on your shortlist, and compare the answers side by side.

The 10 questions

1. Which past project is closest to ours, and what changed for that client? Look for a project in a similar sector and scale, with results described in measurable terms, not adjectives. Ask to speak to the client. 2. Who will actually work on our project? The people in the sales meeting are not always the people who build. Ask for roles, experience, and whether the team stays the same after signing. 3. How will you handle Ethiopian tax, payroll, currency, and fiscal device requirements? Ask for a demonstration with scenarios from your business, not a generic demo. Gaps here show up at month-end. 4. What happens when our internet connection drops? If warehouses, branches, or field teams can't rely on constant connectivity, the answer needs to be more than "it needs internet." See our guide to ERP implementation in Ethiopia. 5. Which parts of our requirements are standard, and which are customized? A clear line between configuration, customization, and integration tells you where cost and risk sit. If the platform is Odoo, our guide to Odoo in Ethiopia explains the difference. 6. How will our data be cleaned and migrated? A provider who skips this question is leaving the hardest part to you. Ask about trial migrations and validation. More in our guide to ERP data migration. 7. How will you train our staff and measure adoption? Software that nobody uses is a failed project. Ask what training, floor support, and follow-up look like, and how they check whether people are actually using the system. 8. What does support look like after go-live? Ask who you contact, how fast urgent issues are resolved, what is included in the price, and what costs extra. Support in month two matters more than in week one. 9. What will this cost over three to five years? Request an itemized view: licenses (if any), hosting, implementation, customization, training, support, and upgrades. Separate one-time costs from recurring ones. 10. Who owns the code, the data, and the documentation, and what if we want to leave? You should have access to your data at all times, clear rights over custom code, and documentation another team could use. Ask how upgrades are handled.

Red flags

• A fixed price before any discovery
• No relevant case studies, or case studies without outcomes
• Reluctance to let you speak to past clients
• Vague answers on local compliance
• A team that changes after the contract is signed
• No plan for data migration or post-launch support

How to compare the answers

Score each provider from 1 to 5 on each question, weight the ones that matter most for your business (for most companies: past project experience, local compliance, support, and adoption), and add up the result. Price should be one factor among several. A cheap proposal that needs a rebuild is not cheap. For the common reasons projects fail, read why most ERP projects fail.

Where Certa fits

Certa Technologies implements and customizes Odoo for manufacturers, healthcare providers, distributors, and other businesses in Ethiopia. We're happy to be measured against this list. You can see examples of our delivered systems on the Work page, or talk to our team about your processes.