IMS / ERP Selection
If you don't have a system, how do you choose the right one? And if you already have one, how do you make it work better?
You've watched three demos this month and you're more confused than when you started. Every rep swears their system solves everything. Nobody trusts the inventory number on the screen. You've outgrown the spreadsheet-and-tribal-knowledge setup that used to work, and now you're staring down a decision that could lock you into the wrong system, the wrong cost, or the wrong vendor for years. If you're running on spreadsheets, you already know you need to move off them, but you've heard it's hard, and you don't know how to choose the right one.
Already have a system? We can run a health check on it too, a straight read on whether it's actually doing what it's supposed to, whether it fits your needs, and whether you even like using it. Either way, you don't need another product pitch. You need someone who works for you and tells you who pays them. Scott tells you up front if either vendor pays a referral fee.
You've demoed 12 vendors, and you still don't know which one to pick.
Does this sound like you?
How it actually works
Start with real requirements.What you actually need, the specific things you don't want, and what the optimal outcome looks like for your business, documented before any vendor gets involved.
Get educated on the tools and the process.You learn what's actually out there and how a selection like this should run, so you're not relying on a sales rep to explain their own product to you.
Scott runs it against his matrix.A live, vendor-neutral comparison matrix across dozens of inventory, ERP, and accounting systems, used to challenge and stress-test the companies in the running.
Narrowed to exactly two.Two vetted options with a full cost picture, not a long list to sort through on your own.
You demo, you decide, no buyer's remorse.You and your team run the demos, bring the quotes back, and Scott guides you to a confident final call.
Why Scharf Consulting
Scott built and maintains a comparison matrix across dozens of systems, kept current through direct relationships at the top of the ecommerce-tech ecosystem, not a one-time market scan. He's walked hundreds of sellers through exactly this decision and has turned down oversized tools and padded recommendations often enough that founders read it as proof, not a sales tactic. If there really isn't a second reasonable option, he says so instead of manufacturing one to look thorough.
It starts with an audit
Every engagement begins with the Ecommerce Business Audit. For an IMS or ERP decision, the audit is what surfaces the real current-state gaps, in inventory accuracy, in close time, in manual workload, before any vendor conversation happens. You should never be shopping for a system before you know exactly what problem it has to solve.