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roadmap, costs & benefits"
Custom ERP: features, development roadmap, costs & benefits
January 30, 2025
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Head of ERP Center of Excellence
ERP software is a powerful tool that helps companies achieve real-time visibility of business processes, ensure cross-organizational data integrity, and improve decision-making. However, not every off-the-shelf ERP platform can effectively address existing business needs, and that’s when a company turns to ERP software development services to get custom-built solutions with the functionality tailored to their business workflows.
About Itransition
10+ years of experience in delivering ERP solutions
50+ successful ERP projects across multiple industries, including healthcare, manufacturing, retail, automotive, and insurance
Providing IT consulting and software development services since 1998
Hands-on experience with data analytics, BI, AI, and ML
Why opt for a custom ERP solution?
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- You have established non-trivial business workflows, and the default functionality of packaged ERP software cannot effectively cover them, significantly increasing TCO.
- Your business is actively evolving, demanding significant scaling and adjustments to your ERP system (e.g., adding new users or industry-specific or advanced functionality, such as real-time data analysis or interactive visualization) - requirements that off-the-shelf ERP solutions cannot meet effectively.
- You operate in a highly regulated industry, which imposes strict compliance requirements that off-the-shelf ERP software cannot address.
- As your company grows, you want to mitigate escalating licensing costs and maintain better control over long-term expenses.
- You need to cost-efficiently integrate your ERP software solution into a complex IT environment with multiple systems, legacy systems, and third-party services.
- You want to minimize user resistance and reduce additional investments in end-user training and onboarding.
Wondering if custom ERP is an optimal choice for your business?
Custom ERP vs platform ERP
Custom ERP software
Off-the-shelf ERP software
Functionality
Functionality
Tailor-made functionality and integrations, as the software is built for specific company needs
A predefined functional structure that could be excessive or insufficient for your unique business needs
Ease of adoption
Ease of adoption
Adoption is faster as the solution aligns with your business processes
Users might need more time learning how to use and tune the ERP system to take full advantage of it
Deployment speed
Deployment speed
Deployment is slow due to the time spent on the project team assembling, solution architecture design, tech stack selection, ERP application development, testing, and deployment
Fast deployment for small or medium sized companies Deployment among enterprises can be slowed down due to the need to customize the ERP system to a company’s complex workflows at the source code level
Customization capabilities
Customization capabilities
Vast customization capabilities
Little to no customization capabilities
Scalability
Scalability
Scalability can be adjusted to the in-house infrastructure
Scalability can be limited Upscaling results in higher TCO
Control over ERP
Control over ERP
Complete control over the solution’s development and management, full ownership over the system
Little to no control over the solution
Support
Support
Upgrades and maintenance activities are performed by the in-house team or are negotiated with the development vendor
Commonly, first-line support by the ERP vendor is included in the subscription fee Advanced and premium support plans are available for an extra fee
Cost
Cost
High upfront costs due to development expenses TCO can be lower in the long run The pricing is transparent
Lower entrance cost Expensive customizations and advanced support Can imply hidden costs (for security, maintenance, upgrades, etc.) ERP vendors mostly offer software for a subscription fee, which can change over time
Major risks
Major risks
Heavy resource investment Outdated technology Maintenance burden
Vendor lock-ins Functionality gaps Hefty pricing in the long-run
Deployment
Deployment
Complete flexibility on how and where the software runs
Deployment inflexibility, the company has to factor in deployment models (cloud-based, on-premises, or hybrid) when selecting an ERP vendor
Custom ERP functionality
Tailored ERP functionality
Custom ERP can include multiple tailor-made modules supporting particular business processes. The combination of these modules, their number, capabilities, and types depend on the industry-specific requirements, business needs, and optimization goals of a particular company. Among the most common ERP modules are:
- Financial management
- Sales and distribution
- Business intelligence and reporting
- Warehouse and inventory management
- Supply chain management
- Field services
- Quality management
- Human resource management and payroll
- Project management
Custom ERP integrations
Unlike off-the-shelf ERP solutions, custom ERP software has almost unlimited integration flexibility. With a seamless bi-directional data flow between ERP modules as well as between the ERP software and other corporate and/or external systems and SaaS applications, companies automate and streamline manual and error-prone data extraction and input activities, which increases overall reporting accuracy and speed. Among the systems custom ERP software can be integrated with are:
- Hardware
- Mobile devices
- Software of your partners/clients
- Banking and financial services
- Business process management systems
- Ecommerce platforms
- Accounting software
- Customer relationship management (CRM) software
Real-life examples of custom ERP by Itransition
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21%
increase in sales
A furniture manufacturing software suit
Itransition developed a manufacturing software suite, including a custom ERP system, which helped a furniture producer transform their back-office workflows and expand their business.
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7x
shipments increase
A supply chain management ecosystem
Itransition optimized and upgraded the customer’s ERP platform for large retailers with new features, which helped increase the average number of shipments for end clients, positively affecting their satisfaction rate.
Custom ERP software development roadmap
1
Analysis
- Business needs analysis
- Industry regulations and compliance requirements definition
- Technology environment evaluation
- ERP software requirements specification
2
Design & technology selection
- ERP solution architecture designÂ
- ERP integration scope definition
- Choosing an optimal technology stack
3
Planning
- Project scope, deliverables, implementation strategy definitionÂ
- Project scheduling and budgeting
- Data migration strategy development
- User onboarding planning
- Risk management strategy development
4
Development
- Front-end and back-end developmentÂ
- Platform integration with existing systems or third-party solutions using custom or pre-built APIs and connectors
5
Testing
- Functional and security testing
- Usability testing with focus groupsÂ
- Performance testing
- Compatibility testingÂ
- Issue resolution
6
Deployment & launch
- ERP solution deployment to productionÂ
- Data migration from corporate systems and applications to the ERP platform
- User acceptance testing to check the ERP system in real-world circumstances
- User training and onboarding
7
Post-launch support (L1-L3 support)
- Ongoing support of the platform users and infrastructure
- System fine-tuning following customer’s concerns or suggestions
- System troubleshootingÂ
- Technology upgrades
Custom ERP technology stack
For convenience, the following architectural levels of ERP systems can be distinguished:
- Data storage for storing data about each area of business activity
- Back-end services including business logic, data processing, and integrations
- A user interface for users to submit requests and access information
From this perspective, the technologies used to build custom ERP software can be grouped into front-end, back-end, and databases, which can be deployed either in the cloud or on-premises.
Front-end technologies
Front-end technologies
Back-end services
Back-end services
Databases
Databases
The cost of custom ERP solutions
To calculate the cost of building a custom ERP application, you have to factor in:
Functional scope
Functional scope
the number of functional modules an ERP solution will incorporate (financial management, supply chain management, sales and distribution, procurement, order management, etc.)
Integration capacity
Integration capacity
the number of integrations with internal and external systems, pre-built connectors for future integrations, and the openness of the solution’s architecture
Data management activities
Data management activities
data cleansing, reformatting, and migration activities required for ERP adoption
Technology stack
Technology stack
the cost of third-party solutions used to build an ERP platform, licensing fees for storage and computing, and hardware-related costs
Team composition & team size
Team composition & team size
a standard team composition includes a project manager, a business analyst, UX/UI designers, solution architect, back-end/front-end/full-stack developers, QA engineers, and a DevOps engineer
Training activities
Training activities
training sessions and support documentation/materials/manuals for end-users
Support level
Support level
any maintenance activities to ensure the smooth operation of the software, regular updates and upgrades, and user support
Custom ERP benefits
Tailored functionality
High utilization rate
Flexibility
Optimized TCO
Product ownership & fast issue resolution
Higher security levels
Common risks of adopting custom ERP
Custom enterprise resource planning is a valuable IT asset, so building it is a complex process fraught with potential barriers. To create a high-quality custom ERP, beware of the following:
Heavy initial investment
Extended timeline & insufficient resources
Vague functional scope
Finding the right technology partner
How Itransition can help
ERP development
Consulting
ERP customization
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Ensure the success of your ERP project with Itransition
To create a future-proof custom ERP system with guaranteed business value, we recommend first developing a comprehensive ERP strategy carefully aligned with your business development goals. Being a transformative technology for any company, an ERP solution is not an endpoint but the next step to automation and digital transformation. To execute it safely and achieve your objectives as quickly as possible, you can rely on Itransition’s certified ERP consultants.
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Looking for a reliable ERP technology partner?
Custom ERP FAQs
What is custom ERP?
How long does it take to develop an ERP?
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