Selection criteria for ERP systems in Oil & Gas

The market for ERP systems that serves the oil and gas industry has two major sets of players. When it comes time to replace your ERP system, it’s important to select a provider at the appropriate scale. Carla Curtsinger takes a look at recommendations from the NG Oil and Gas Technology Summit.

The marketing for ERP systems that serves the oil and gas industry has two major sets of players: 

• The tier one companies like Oracle and SAP that people tend to be more familiar with…
• And the mid-tier or tier two companies like Excalibur and Quorum.

When it comes time to replace an ERP system, it’s important to select a provider at the appropriate scale for your organization.

During his keynote at the recent NG Oil and Gas Technology Summit in Austin, Russell Corl, Managing Partner at Magnum Forge, recommended six important criteria when selecting your next ERP system:

• Functionality
• Scalability
• Implementation Support
• Roadmap and enhancements
• Technology platform, and
• Post-go-live customer support

Corl recommends looking for products built specifically for the upstream industry, rather than those modified from a program originally designed for manufacturing, and single-vendor solutions with seamless data integration from the field to financials. These ERP products will address the unique issues in accounting, financial reporting, and production activities for oil and gas, but there may still be some drawbacks in the mid-tier space.

Corl used a lawnmower analogy in his keynote, and it’s a good one to keep in mind. While you may be drawn to that fancy riding mower with the cool roll bar, a push mower may be all you really need – so choose the ERP solution with the appropriate scale for your organization.

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