The ABCs of ERP & Beyond
The ABCs of ERP & Beyond is an independent podcast about choosing, implementing and living with ERP.
Every two weeks, Peter Nicholson, Nirav Shah and Emily Browning bring three different perspectives to practical conversations about ERP selection, data migration, implementation, go-live, training, change, reporting and the things that go wrong.
Much of our experience comes from mid-market manufacturing and distribution, where the business has to keep taking orders, making things and shipping while the project is under way. We talk about real trade-offs rather than reciting product benefits. Sometimes the right answer is to replace a system. Sometimes it is to upgrade, fix the implementation or leave it alone.
No paid editorial coverage, polished case studies or vendor-approved conclusions. Just candid ERP conversations from people doing the work.
Episodes
89 episodes
S4E20 | Why ERP Phase 2 Never Happens (And How to Make It Count)
At some point in every ERP project, someone says "we'll pick that up in phase two" — and the room nods, because it's the sentence that lets everyone stop arguing. Then you go live, orders go out, invoices go out, and that list quietly becomes s...
S4E19 | How to Run an ERP Discovery Week That Actually Works
The demos are done, the contract's signed, and a calendar invite has landed that just says "discovery". This week Pete, Nirav and Emily take on the first real phase of an ERP implementation — the week where the business has to explain how it ac...
Should You Downgrade From Tier 1 to Tier 2 ERP?
Eighty-odd episodes of this show and every one of them has pointed the same way: up. Outgrow the spreadsheets, upgrade, migrate to the cloud, choose your first ERP.This week Pete, Nirav and Emily go the other way and ask the question nob...
5 Things That Break When You Put AI in Your ERP
Pete opens the show with a fourth guest in the room: a live AI, talking back in real time, interruptible mid-sentence. It gives a perfectly competent answer about AI in ERP — augment, don't blindly automate — sings an unsolicited song about mas...
5 Reasons Your Second ERP Migration Is Easier Than Your First
Think back to your first ERP go-live. If you just winced, this episode's for you.Every prospect meeting has that one person — arms folded, thousand-yard stare, still processing something that happened fifteen years ago. They know the cur...
Stop Being a Button-Pusher: Acumatica Automation Schedules
Most mornings, someone in your business opens the same screen, sets the same filter and clicks the same button. Tomorrow they'll do it again. Acumatica will do all of it for you — on a timer, in the background, with no code, no integration and ...
When Do You Actually Need an ERP? (It's Not Revenue)
A small business owner posted on r/ERP that they'd outgrown their patchwork of spreadsheets and SaaS apps — and had heard they'd need an ERP "once they hit a certain size." They just couldn't work out where that line was. The post sat unanswere...
How to Choose an ERP: 5 Questions to Answer Before You Look at a Single Demo
Choosing the wrong ERP is one of the most expensive mistakes a business can make — and it rarely happens because the software was bad. It happens because the company never worked out what it actually needed before it fell for a slick demo. The ...
Upgrade or Migrate? How to Tell Which Your ERP Really Needs
Every ERP project starts with someone saying "we need to do something about our systems". The two real options on the table are usually upgrade or migrate — and most teams treat them as if they're the same kind of project at different scales. T...
5 Conditions for a 6-Month ERP Implementation
Six-month ERP implementations get a bad name because most "six-month" projects are really twelve-month projects with a six-month deadline glued onto the front. The software is rarely the problem. The problem is everything around it — decisions,...
8 Things We Actually Like in Acumatica 2026 R1
Acumatica 2026 R1 is live — 460 pages of release notes, and we've read them so you don't have to. Pete, Nirav, and Emily walk through what actually stood out, what's genuinely useful, and why this particular release deserves your attention soon...
Why Your Inventory Numbers Don't Add Up — with Ben Hussey, Co-CEO of Katana
Most businesses have an inventory problem. The question is how big. In this episode, we're joined by Ben Hussey, Co-CEO of Katana Cloud Inventory, to talk about why so many growing businesses struggle with inventory visibility — and what they c...
5 Things to Do Before You Connect Your E-Commerce Site to an ERP
There comes a point in every e-commerce business where the patchwork of Shopify, spreadsheets, ShipStation, and QuickBooks stops working. Orders are flowing in, but nobody has a single view of what's happening — and you're managing three screen...
5 Reasons Your ERP Project Falls Apart Before Go-Live
You selected the right ERP. You signed the deal. Everyone's buzzing. So why does it start going wrong three months in?This week, Pete and Nirav welcome Emily Browning back to the show to tackle one of the most underrated topics in ERP: p...
Why Your ERP Training Isn't Working (And How to Fix It)
Why does your team forget everything they learned in ERP training?You invested serious time and money. Everyone attended. And three months after go-live, half the team is still confused, making errors, and asking the same questions.<...
Parallel Running Your ERP? Here's Why That Backfires
Parallel running sounds like a safety net. In reality, it's one of the most common and most expensive mistakes in ERP implementation.In this episode, Pete and Nirav are joined by Emily Browning — an IT leader in manufacturing — to break ...
Acumatica Summit 2026: AI, Automation & The Future of ERP
What happens when ERP stops being software… and starts becoming a digital replica of your entire business?In this episode, Peter Nicholson and Nirav Shah unpack the biggest moments from Acumatica Summit 2026 — from the buzz...
Acumatica Summit 2026: Live Updates and First Impressions
We were so impressed with the news and updates from Acumatica Summit 2026 in Seattle, we had to grab a few minutes to document our initial impressions. Apologies in advance for Pete's slurring of words, he must've been too excited about t...
Shopify + Business Central Integration: What the Native Connector Won't Tell You
Thinking about connecting Shopify to Business Central? Before you flip that switch, you need to know what you're getting into.In this episode of The ABCs of ERP & Beyond, Pete and Nirav dig into the Shopify-to-Business Central integr...
Why Your Factory Feels Chaotic and How ERP Brings Control Back
Why does manufacturing feel so chaotic for so many businesses?In the first episode of 2026, recorded in person back in November, we explore one of the most misunderstood areas of ERP: planning and scheduling — and ...
2025 ERP Year in Review: AI, Tariffs & Our Biggest Episodes
Didn't listen to ANY episodes but want to know what we spoke about? Listen to what we picked out as our top events, episodes, and life moments from 2025.
How to Migrate Work-in-Progress (WIP) Into Your New ERP System
This week on The ABCs of ERP & Beyond, we’re talking all things production orders and WIP (Work in Progress). If you’re in manufacturing, you know how critical it is to keep your BOMs, routings, and shop floor data accurate—and to ...
5 Reasons Your ERP Go-Live Will Fail (And How to Prevent It)
In this episode of The ABCs of ERP & Beyond, Pete and Nirav break down the top five reasons ERP go-lives go off the rails, and what you can do to steer your project back on track. Whether you're preparing for your first impl...
What's New in Acumatica 2025 R2: Top Features Reviewed
After an extended break where Pete was busy getting married, we're now BACK with a look at what caught our eye in Acumatica's latest major release, 2025 R2. Year, this does feature AI talk but this is a game changer in the ERP space so co...
Why You're Not Ready for ERP (And How to Get There)
Are you thinking about ERP but not sure if your business is ready? In this episode of The ABCs of ERP & Beyond, we break down the Top 5 signs you’re not ready for ERP — and more importantly, what you should do about it.👉 Topics cove...
