A recent article prompted me to pause and sit in bewilderment. To my surprise, not all ERP vendors use their own ERP software to run their internal operations. No, I thought, it cannot be true. But it is true. And if you are as shocked as I was, well, join the club of disbelievers.

Since we began developing our software back in the early 90’s, TGI has used Enterprise 21 to run our own operations. From CRM and project management to support call resolution and year end financial statements, Enterprise 21 is all we use internally. Quite frankly, it is all we need.

Honestly, I really did not believe that other ERP software vendors were any different. I suppose I suspected vendors of very vertically focused software may use a different software package than they sell, but honestly, I had not put much thought it. The idea of an ERP software vendor not using the same software they develop and sell simply seemed ludicrous to me. I just did not believe an ERP developer would use a competitor’s software package. But alas, it is true. It does occur and probably more often the naive blogger in me would think.

I will say this loud and clear. Internally at TGI, we use what we sell and we sell what we use. We do so, because we believe in our ERP software. It is not focused on a small vertical market. It is a strong horizontal solution that can efficiently and effectively manage the operations of an entire organization. In particular, it manages our operations. We use our Enterprise 21 package everywhere to manage everything.

So I will end with this thought. If you are a project manager or consultant in the midst of a software evaluation project, ask each vendor on your short list what software they use internally. Based on my recent discovery, the answer may surprise you just as much as it surprised me.

Rebecca Gill
ERP ETC.