ERP Migration & SelectionFree assessmentPDF, Excel, Word export

ERP Vendor Viability and Risk Assessment

Choosing an ERP vendor is a decade-long commitment, but vendor risk is often reviewed in an afternoon. This assessment turns nine practical questions into a risk band so gaps in your due diligence are visible.

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1. What do you know about the vendor's financial health?

Public filings, audited statements or independent credit reports.

2. How many reference customers in your industry and size run the exact product and deployment model?

3. How clear is the vendor's product roadmap and commitment to the version you are buying?

4. How dependent is support on a single person, team or partner?

5. Can you export all of your data in usable formats today?

6. How exposed are you to price increases at renewal?

7. What is the ownership situation of the vendor?

8. How strong is the third-party ecosystem of partners, integrators and talent in your region?

9. How well have security and compliance claims been verified?

How to use the assessment

Answer based on evidence you hold, not on what the vendor has told you in a presentation. Where you have no evidence, choose the lowest option, because an unchecked risk behaves like a real one. Run the assessment for each shortlisted vendor so you can compare risk next to functional fit and price, and revisit it before signing.

What the nine questions cover

The questions span financial health, reference customers, roadmap commitment, support depth, data portability, price protection, ownership stability, ecosystem strength and security evidence. They are weighted equally on purpose: a vendor with strong functionality can still be a poor choice if you cannot leave or if the only support partner is a single small firm.

Financial and ownership stability
Product and roadmap confidence
Support and ecosystem depth
Exit and price protection

Reading your result

The score is a percentage of the maximum, mapped to four bands. A moderate result is common and not a reason to reject a vendor; it tells you which contract clauses and evidence requests to prioritize. A high-risk result suggests pausing, either to obtain missing evidence or to compare against an alternative with a stronger position.

Common mistakes

Buyers equate market share with safety, ignore ownership changes and rely on analyst quadrants as a proxy for due diligence. Another frequent error is checking the vendor but not the specific product line, which may have a different roadmap and support status than the company as a whole. Assess the product you are buying.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I check an ERP vendor's financial health?

Use audited statements if the company is public, or request them under NDA if private. Independent credit reports and the stability of ownership add context. Look at revenue trend, profitability, debt and the share of revenue from the product you are buying.

Is a big vendor always lower risk?

Not necessarily. Large vendors can retire or replace product lines, and customers on those lines face migrations. Assess the specific product, its support dates and its customer base, not just the company name.

What is vendor lock-in risk?

It is the cost and difficulty of leaving: proprietary data formats, heavy customization, long contracts and scarce alternatives. Reduce it with data export rights, standard interfaces, documented customization and transition assistance clauses.

How often should we reassess vendor risk?

At least annually, before each renewal and after major events such as an acquisition, a leadership change or a roadmap announcement. A short repeat of this assessment keeps the register current.

If a legacy platform is part of your decision, Netray can help assess what keeping it running with AI-assisted tooling would involve. The assessment itself is independent of any vendor.

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