David Ward, ERP Systems Adviser
More than 13 years of helping UK businesses replace, repair and modernise enterprise software, written down so other people do not have to learn it the hard way.
David Ward
David works with UK businesses of forty to several hundred staff, on the systems they depend on: ERP, finance platforms, inventory, manufacturing and the integrations between them. His work sits on the finance and operations side of the fence, not the sales side, which is why the advice on this site reads the way it does.
What I do
Most of my work is with businesses that have outgrown their software and are trying to work out what to do about it. That work takes three forms:
- System reviews. A structured look at whether the current ERP is helping or holding the business back, with a written action list at the end.
- Migration and replacement programmes. Planning and running the move to a modern platform, from business case to stabilisation.
- Problem fixing. The quieter work: performance, data quality, integrations and the legacy customisations that keep breaking.
How I work
Three habits carry through everything I do:
- Measure before judging. A system review starts with numbers: close cycles, rekeying hours, report runtimes, workaround counts. Impressions come second.
- Say what I would do with my own money. If the honest answer is to repair rather than replace, that is the answer, even when it is not the one that pays for the next engagement.
- Leave the business able to run without me. The goal of a migration is a team that owns its system, not a dependency on the adviser who built it.
Why Business Lunch & Learn exists
The site started as notes shared with clients after reviews, because the same questions came up in every room: what is this costing, how risky is it, when should we act, and how do we do it without breaking the business? The notes became guides, and the guides became this site. It stays free, independent and readable in one sitting.
Nothing on this site is affiliated with any software vendor, and the case studies in the guides are anonymised from real engagements.
When to get in touch
If you are facing any of these, the contact page is the fastest way to start:
- You are not sure whether the ERP is the problem or the symptom.
- A business case for replacement keeps stalling at board level.
- You are planning a migration and want the plan checked before it is too late to change.
- The person who understands the system has just handed in notice.