I work with mid-sized distributors and manufacturers. Most of my clients come to me because they’ve hit the ceiling on older systems. DOS-based software. Legacy platforms that served them well for years but can’t keep up anymore. I’ve helped companies move off systems like ACCPAC Plus, Dac Easy, and Business Vision onto modern platforms like Spire or Adagio.
But there’s another group I keep hearing about. Companies stuck on the other end of the spectrum.
They made a big ERP investment a few years back. Enterprise-grade software. The kind of system you see in case studies and trade show booths. On paper, it should be running the whole business.
But when you look at how things actually work day to day, the answer is almost always the same: spreadsheets.
Inventory tracking in Excel. Pricing overrides in a shared file someone built years ago. Commission calculations that live outside the system because “it was easier.” A report called something like “REAL margins” that someone updates manually every week because the ERP version never quite matched reality.
The system isn’t broken. It’s just not being used. Not the way it was sold, anyway.
I haven’t worked with many of these companies yet. But I know this pattern is real. I see it in industry forums, in user reviews, in the questions people ask when they’re quietly wondering if they made the wrong choice. And I know I can help.
That’s what I want to talk about today.
Signs the fit isn’t right
So what does “too big” actually look like in practice? It’s rarely obvious. The system works. Invoices go out. Orders get processed. But underneath, there are signs that the fit isn’t right.
Simple changes become projects.
You want to add a field. Tweak a report. Change how a workflow triggers. In a right-sized system, that’s a Tuesday afternoon. In an oversized ERP, it’s a ticket to IT or a consultant, and it takes weeks. One user on a review site described waiting months for basic changes, only to be told it would require “custom development” at additional cost.
You’re paying for modules nobody opens.
Look at your invoice. Count the modules. Now ask your team which ones they actually use. I’ve seen companies paying for advanced forecasting, project management, multi-entity consolidation. Features that sounded great in the demo but never got configured. The invoice stays the same. The value doesn’t.
Reporting is powerful on paper.
The system has dashboards. It has saved searches. It has drill-down capabilities. But when month-end comes, someone still pulls the data into Excel. Why? Because it’s faster. Because the built-in reports don’t quite match how the business actually works. Because nobody wants to wait for a “saved search that takes minutes to load,” as one frustrated user put it.
The warehouse and customer service teams work around it.
They’re not trying to be difficult. They just need to get things done. So they track orders in a shared spreadsheet. They email updates instead of logging them. They keep a side system for the stuff that’s “just easier” outside the ERP. The system becomes a system of record that nobody fully trusts.
Everyone’s afraid of breaking something.
This is the quiet one. The system feels rigid. Complex. Like it was built for a company with a dedicated IT team and a full-time administrator. People don’t experiment. They don’t customize. They just work around it. Because touching anything feels risky.
None of this means the system is bad. These are powerful platforms. But power without fit creates friction. And friction shows up in spreadsheets, workarounds, and teams that quietly stop trusting the system they’re paying for.
How companies end up here
Nobody sets out to buy the wrong system. These decisions make sense at the time. It’s only later, when the dust settles, that the mismatch becomes clear.
Buying for a future that never arrived.
The company was growing fast. New locations were on the horizon. Maybe a second warehouse, maybe expansion into new markets. The system was chosen to handle all of that. But the growth slowed, or shifted direction, or just took longer than expected. Now the company is paying for infrastructure built for a version of itself that doesn’t exist yet.
Following someone else’s template.
A parent company said “we use System X everywhere.” A PE firm required it as part of the acquisition. A trusted advisor recommended it because it worked well for a much larger client. The system got chosen based on someone else’s needs, not the actual complexity of the business.
Getting sold on demos and dashboards.
The sales presentation was impressive. Real-time visibility. Powerful analytics. Seamless workflows. But demos show what’s possible, not what’s practical. The day-to-day reality of how the warehouse actually operates, how customer service handles exceptions, how the finance team closes the books… that’s harder to see in a 90-minute demo.
Underestimating what it takes to run a big system well.
Large ERPs aren’t just software. They’re ecosystems. They need administrators, ongoing configuration, someone who understands the logic well enough to troubleshoot when things break. Mid-sized companies often don’t have that internal capacity. So the system gets implemented, the consultants leave, and the team is left managing something they were never staffed to own.
Here’s the thing: large, complex ERPs aren’t automatically wrong. They’re built for companies that need that level of power and have the resources to manage it. The problem isn’t the software. It’s the fit. And when the fit is off, even a great system becomes a burden.
What “right-sized ERP” looks like in practice
So if oversized is the problem, what does right-sized actually look like?
It’s not about finding the smallest system. It’s about finding the one that fits how your business actually runs today, with room to grow into tomorrow.
The system doesn’t fight you on everyday tasks.
Your team can navigate it without fear. Basic operations don’t require workarounds or side systems. The people using it daily feel like they’re working with the software, not around it.
Inventory, orders, and financials live in one place.
Not scattered across three platforms and five spreadsheets. When someone asks “what’s our margin on this order?” or “how much of this SKU is in the warehouse?”, the answer is in the system. Not in a file someone updates manually every Monday.
Reporting works the way your business works.
This is where the right setup matters. A right-sized system gives you options: built-in reports for the basics, custom reports for the stuff that’s specific to your operation, and tools that connect your ERP data to Excel or dashboards without hours of monthly formatting.
I set clients up with reporting that actually fits. Sometimes that’s custom Crystal Reports inside the ERP. Sometimes it’s Breeze GL, an add-on that pulls accounting data directly into Excel. You design the report once, and after that, printing next month’s version is just a matter of changing the date. Same idea with Power BI dashboards. Slicers, filters, the ability to look at data however you want, whenever you want.
The goal isn’t to make you dependent on a consultant for every month-end. It’s to build the reporting foundation right from the start, so the system gives you what you need without constant manual effort. And when something changes, like a new product line or a shift in how you want to see the numbers, that’s when you call me.
The system can grow with you.
A right-sized ERP handles where you are now and where you’re realistically headed in the next five to ten years. It doesn’t feel like it was built for a 500-person enterprise. But it also won’t hit a ceiling the moment you add a second location or a new product line.
This is the space I work in. Tools that sit in that middle ground: more control than entry-level software, less complexity than the big enterprise names. Platforms like Spire, where a mid-sized distributor or manufacturer can run their whole operation, with reporting set up to actually serve the business, not just check a box.
Right-sized doesn’t mean less capable. It means capability that matches reality, with room to evolve when you need it.
How we help clients figure out if their ERP is oversize or just mis-configured
Not every frustration means you need a new system. Sometimes the problem is the software. Sometimes it’s the setup. Part of my job is helping companies figure out which one they’re dealing with.
When I talk to a prospect in this situation, I’m not starting with “here’s what you should buy.” I’m starting with questions.
How many locations, and who’s actually in the system every day?
Not headcount on the org chart. Real users. The people logging in, entering orders, checking inventory, running reports. That tells me whether the system’s complexity matches the operation’s actual size.
How much of the business is still running in spreadsheets or side systems?
If the ERP is supposed to handle inventory but the warehouse manager keeps a separate Excel file “just to be safe,” that’s a sign. Either the system isn’t set up right, or it’s not the right fit. Both are worth understanding.
Which reports do you rely on, and how hard are they to get?
If month-end means exporting data and rebuilding reports manually every time, that’s friction. But is it because the system can’t do it, or because nobody ever configured it properly? Sometimes the reporting tools are there. They just need to be set up.
Are you using a small fraction of what you’re paying for?
Modules you’ve never opened. Features that sounded great in the demo but never got implemented. If half the invoice is for stuff you don’t touch, that’s worth examining. It might mean you’re on the wrong system. Or it might mean there’s value sitting untapped.
Are you paying enterprise fees for a mid-market operation?
This one catches people off guard. A company doing $5M or $15M in revenue shouldn’t be paying six figures a year in software assurance or maintenance fees. But it happens. Companies sign up for a big-name system, and the annual cost to keep it running, supported, and updated is wildly out of proportion to the business size. That’s not a configuration problem. That’s a fit problem. And it’s worth knowing what you’re actually spending compared to what right-sized alternatives would cost.
Here’s the honest answer I give sometimes: you might not need to switch. If the core system is sound and the pain is really about configuration, training, or reporting, fixing those things is faster and cheaper than starting over. I’d rather help someone get more out of what they have than sell them something new they don’t need.
But if the system truly doesn’t fit, if the complexity is baked in and the business has to bend itself around the software instead of the other way around, or if you’re paying enterprise prices for mid-market needs, then it’s worth looking at what else is out there.
The goal of that first conversation is to figure out which situation you’re in.
Where to start
If any of this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. And you’re not stuck.
Maybe you’re paying enterprise-level fees and still feel like your team is fighting the system. Maybe you’re wondering if the problem is the software or just how it was set up. Maybe you’ve been quietly Googling alternatives but aren’t sure where to start.
That’s exactly the kind of conversation I have with companies all the time.
We can spend 45 minutes walking through what you’re using and what you’re not. Looking at where the friction is. Figuring out whether you need a different system or a better way of using the one you have. Just an honest look at where things stand.
If you’re starting to explore options, I wrote about the questions worth asking before you commit to any ERP vendor]. It covers implementation timelines, true cost of ownership, and the things most salespeople won’t bring up. Worth a read before you start shopping.
When you’re ready to talk, reach out. I’d be glad to help you figure out what right-sized actually looks like for your business.
~Audrey Quick, Founder of AGS Enterprises Consulting LLC
Audrey has spent 35+ years helping businesses manage ERP implementations and accounting software transitions. If you’re evaluating your options, we can book a free 15-minute call