Why an Experienced Manufacturing MSP Should Be Involved in ERP Implementations and Updates
Technology is becoming the highest-return investment lever for manufacturers. By consolidating tools and systems, streamlining processes, building analytics for the people who need them most, leveraging shop-floor data, and reducing manual work in workflows, manufacturers are realizing 10–20% gains in operating margin.
The epicenter of this activity is the ERP system. For most manufacturing organizations, it is the foundational platform and source of truth for the entire operation. Integrations, analytics, cybersecurity, access controls and synchronization, automation, and customization all become necessities of their IT roadmap and must be factored into broader strategy, revenue, and budget.
Yet the IT services landscape has not kept pace with this reality. For most manufacturers that don’t have a dedicated ERP engineer or specialist in-house, ERP remains siloed in conversations and decision-making. The pattern is familiar: a key operations contact manages the relationship with the ERP vendor or VAR, while also managing the traditional IT relationship with an in-house IT person or an outsourced provider. Both approaches force the operations contact to understand, coordinate, and manage change across two domains. This persists due to legacy thinking and inertia - manufacturers prioritize convenient relationships with longstanding IT providers who lack industry specialization and won't support any part of the ERP platform.
The reality is that the ERP and IT environments are inextricably linked, and they require a coordinated team and action plan. An experienced IT team should, at a minimum, familiarize itself with the following four areas as part of its standard service - manufacturers should not accept being upcharged for this.
Whether through REST API (native integration) or MCP, understanding how the ERP connects to other applications and retrieves data is critical. These integrations aren’t static—they require ongoing configuration and maintenance
Underneath the ERP is a complex system of tables that organize data. This structure is foundational for support and should be understood and documented. This knowledge allows an experienced provider to add value to calls, consult on strategy, and troubleshoot issues that span the ERP and the broader IT environment.
Does the ERP connect to a local file structure on a server, or to SharePoint in the cloud? Does it allow users to be synced between Active Directory and the application to reduce setup time and automate access and security? Is email connected through the ERP, and what are the configuration requirements? These questions—and many more—must be understood by an IT provider so they can add value and help troubleshoot issues that are not cleanly “only ERP” or “only traditional IT.”
Whether a manufacturer uses a VAR or the ERP vendor directly for support, the IT team must know the people and processes involved to help solve problems without the manufacturer’s constant involvement.
Getting this wrong is costly. Industry research indicates that 55–75% of ERP projects fail to meet their objectives, with discrete manufacturing facing a failure rate as high as 73% and average cost overruns reaching 215% (Gartner; Godlan, “ERP Implementation Failure Statistics,” 2026). When the IT provider is disconnected from the ERP, these risks compound. For example, issues that span both domains go unresolved, timelines slip, and the operations contact becomes a single point of failure.
Conversely, manufacturers that align their IT and ERP strategies experience measurable upside. Smart manufacturing technology investments typically deliver a median payback period of 12–24 months for mid-market manufacturers, with OEE improvements of 5–15%, yield improvements of 2–8%, and labor productivity gains of 10–20% (Wiss, “Smart Manufacturing Technology ROI: A CFO’s Investment Guide”; Appit Software, “The Smart Factory ROI”). Coordinating the IT team with the ERP from the outset is what enables those gains to compound rather than leak away through integration gaps and siloed troubleshooting.
Upward Technology is one of the only manufacturing-focused MSPs in the industry. Through our experience, partnerships, and capabilities, we help manufacturers improve their bottom lines and expand production faster than any other company in the industry.