Discover the 9 ERP favorites of successful consulting firms

The reality of staffing often catches up with consulting firms: 15-20% of consultants' time is wasted on administrative tasks. As a result, they can only bill an average of 65% to 75% of their time, when optimal profitability would require 80-85%.

It's these kinds of inefficiencies that the right ERP system can detect and plug. Gaining 20 points of utilization represents an already substantial margin gain for a structure of twenty consultants! All that remains is to choose the right solution from among the multitude of offerings on the market.

Here are the 9 most relevant ERP solutions for consulting firms on the French market, highlighting their specific features, strengths and ideal use cases.

See all software Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

Why use an ERP for your consultancy?

The central concern of consulting firms is well known: the relationship between productive capacity (consultants) and revenues generated.

Simply put, a consultancy's profitability depends directly on its ability to convert consultants' working time (their main resource) into billable income.

In concrete terms, here are the three levers that a specialized ERP system can activate.

Maximize consultant utilization

This is the number-one issue for profitability. Consultants represent both your main cost (salaries) and your source of revenue (billed time). Every hour not billed is a net loss.

A specialized ERP must give staffing managers the ability to identify the best matches in less than 5 minutes:

• instantly see which consultants will be available in the next 4-6 weeks (staffing gaps);
• quickly find out which consultants are available, and above all which ones have exactly the skills required for an upcoming assignment;
• anticipate the end of current missions, then plan how to replace these consultants on new projects.

Reliable invoicing and accelerated cash flow

Cash flow remains the Achilles' heel of many practices. Even with a large number of assignments, some can run into cash-flow problems if money is coming in too slowly. This is often what limits the ability to invest or recruit. In this respect, an efficient ERP system must :

• automatically create invoices from validated hours, without manual re-entry ;
• eliminate errors that delay payment (such as incorrect rates or forgotten days);
• reduce the time spent verifying and validating time before invoicing by 40%;
• reduce average customer payment times by 10-15 days.

Real-time control of job profitability

Many firms realize too late that an assignment is unprofitable. But at that point, it is often impossible to correct the situation.

A good ERP system provides managers with dashboards to :

• track daily how much of the budget has been consumed in relation to actual project progress;
• identify jobs that are likely to go over budget before they do;
• analyze in detail why certain jobs are less profitable (too many seniors? too low rates?);
• virtually test the impact of different decisions (such as changing team composition) on the final margin.

Comparative table of the best ERP solutions for consulting firms

Akuiteo

Akuiteo is one of the few to offer a totally integrated tool. From CRA to accounting, there are no interfaces with third-party software - it's all there.

With this unified architecture, you eliminate the usual friction between operational and financial systems, and speed up the execution of administrative processes.

Ideal for: firms of 30 to 200 consultants in a phase of administrative professionalization, organizations looking to strengthen their back office without increasing their headcount.

Akuiteo's concrete advantages:

• Accelerated monthly closings: you can reduce closing times from 10-15 days to 3-5 days by eliminating manual reconciliations. You can automate accounting entries directly from operational data.
• Native multi-entity management: more reliable processing of inter-company re-invoicing. Financial consolidation is automatic, and you can handle international tax issues with greater confidence.
• Differentiated user interfaces: Akuiteo has designed specific experiences for each profile (consultants, managers, sales staff).

Akuiteo

18 reviews

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Comprehensive ERP Solution for Project-Based Businesses

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Axelor

Axelor comes with a low-code platform. This allows you to create and modify business applications without traditional development.

This capability fundamentally changes the relationship with the tool, as you adapt the ERP to your processes, rather than the other way around.

Ideal type of firm: innovative firms that consider their IS to be a competitive advantage, companies evolving rapidly in emerging fields, firms pushing the digital envelope.

Axelor's concrete advantages :

• Business-specific applications without code: you can create modules on demand, in just a few days. A functional administrator can implement a new process in 1-2 days, compared with several weeks with a traditional ERP.
• Risk-free start-up: the publisher offers a free version for testing on a limited perimeter. Before upgrading to paid versions (€35/user/month, or €55). You reduce the initial risk and validate the potential ROI before making a full commitment.
• Visual BPM for complex workflows: you model and deploy sophisticated workflows to your business teams with little or no IT intervention.

Axelor

100 reviews

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ERP & BPM Open Source and Low Code

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BoondManager

BoondManager offers comprehensive functional coverage, backed by over 15 years' experience in the market.

A true all-in-one tool, it combines project and business management, HR and recruitment management, CRM and time and attendance.

Ideal for: large firms (250 to 5,000 consultants) managing complex transformation projects, firms structured into practices.

BoondManager's concrete benefits :

• Advanced project management: effectively manage all project phases from a central location. Identify risks before they become critical, thanks to advanced indicators (burn rate evolution, plan/actual deviations, allocation anomalies, etc.).
• Reliable revenue prediction: draw up accurate sales forecasts three months in advance, thanks to historical analysis of conversions by opportunity type.
• Hierarchical dashboards: the ERP displays specific visualizations by level (partners, practice directors, operational managers), greatly reducing management committee preparation time with KPIs calculated in real time.

BoondManager

96 reviews

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ERP for IT services company, consulting & engineering firms

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Everwin

Everwin is certainly the one that integrates most easily with the software available on the market. At the same time, it offers an interesting level of customization, without the need for heavy development.

This "best-of-breed" approach makes it possible to build a tailor-made information system for a wide variety of practices.

Ideal type of practice: all! Firms with specific business processes, organizations wishing to preserve their existing software, firms focused on excellence in recruitment and talent management, etc.

Everwin's concrete advantages :

• Business customization without technical constraints: specific processes (e.g.: audit methodologies, particular validation cycles, etc.) can be configured in great detail, without recourse to development.
• Ecosystem of pre-configured integrations: Everwin has a native connector with any leading service (Qlik for BI, Universign for electronic signatures, Mailchimp for email marketing, etc.).
• Excellence in HR management and recruitment: the HR module is the most interesting of the 9 solutions presented. It covers the entire recruitment cycle, and provides a detailed mapping of skills.

Everwin CXM

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CRM for service companies

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Fitnet Manager

Fitnet Manager adopts a modular approach. Over 40 extensions can be activated on demand! This is clearly the ERP that offers the smoothest progression from initial simplicity to functional sophistication.

Ideal for: firms of all sizes that prefer to adopt functionalities gradually, structures reluctant to use traditional ERP systems, organizations with non-technical teams.

Fitnet Manager's concrete benefits:

• Extensions à la carte without functional redundancy: you activate advanced functionalities (Gantt, variable remuneration, multi-currency) on demand, as your needs evolve. In short, a firm can start with the core solution, then activate advanced modules at its own pace.
• Exceptional user adoption: the interface is uncluttered. It's one of the ERPs requiring the least training for consultants.
• Real-time decision-making reporting: several dashboards are already pre-configured.

Fitnet Manager

14 reviews

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The ERP Designed for Consulting and Services Companies

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Karanext

Karanext achieves a rare level of automation for administrative processes.

It's the ERP of choice for firms seeking to drastically minimize their back-office costs.

Ideal type of firm: firms seeking to minimize their administrative costs, fast-growing structures with no desire to proportionally increase back-office, firms operating with small administrative teams.

Karanext's concrete benefits :

• Full back-office automation: you can bill automatically from validated times, manage contracts with electronic signature, automatically letter payments, etc. It's clearly the champion for back-office work!
• Complete digitization: you manage all documents (contracts, invoices, expense claims, receipts) with electronic signature and archiving with probative value. Powerful document search.
• Advanced financial forecasting: it calculates sales projections based on confirmed projects and the weighted pipeline. The same applies to cash flow forecasts incorporating historical payment terms.

Kicklox Platform

Kicklox Platform software is primarily designed to solve staffing problems. In this niche, it is clearly the best, producing an ultra-precise mapping of skills. A sophisticated algorithm takes care of the matching.

In an unusual format, this platform is sold as a white label. In other words, it's customized to your image (logo, colors, texts, matching, domain name).

Ideal for: large firms with complex matrix organizations, structures operating in regulated sectors (defense, healthcare, finance), firms managing a wide range of highly technical profiles.

The concrete benefits of Kicklox Platform :

• Multi-dimensional expertise mapping: it's the only ERP to reference skills that go far beyond a simple skills inventory, with assessment of the level of mastery, history of use and mapping of areas of collective expertise. A unique global vision of intellectual capital.
• Staffing algorithms based on multiple criteria: their matching system simultaneously analyzes technical skills, sector experience, soft skills, individual preferences and availability constraints. This approach increases both the quality of the teams assembled and the utilization rate.
• Secure architecture for sensitive environments: the infrastructure is designed for demanding contexts with access rights and encryption. These features enable firms working on sensitive projects to guarantee confidentiality.

Kicklox Platform

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Streamline Engineering Projects with Collaborative Hiring

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Stafiz

Like Kicklox, Stafiz excels in optimizing staffing and consultant utilization.

But it's more comprehensive. We appreciate its ability to precisely visualize the costs associated with projects and to finely break down profitability at all hierarchical levels.

Ideal for: firms whose business model is based on a mix of fee-based and fixed-price contracts, organizations seeking to maximize their utilization rate, organizations with a large number of consultants to allocate, firms in the process of improving their profitability.

Stafiz benefits in concrete terms:

• Multi-criteria search for available consultants: you can quickly identify the right consultants for each assignment, thanks to multidimensional filters (skills, availability, daily rate, location, certification).
• Granular breakdown of costs and profitability: Stafiz provides visibility on financial parameters at every level (project, team, task, consultant), including time spent, purchasing, subcontracting.
• Digital sales-production-invoicing continuity : a true ERP from invoicing to pre-accounting and settlement. No re-keying. Sales follow-up feeds directly into staffing, which generates timesheets, automatically producing invoices.

Stafiz

52 reviews

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App for consulting companies

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VSActivity (VSA)

VSActivity is a particularly comprehensive ERP solution, capable of centralizing the management of multiple entities within a single company.

Aware of the business challenges specific to consulting firms, Veryswing offers perfectly adapted functional coverage (activity reports, assignment order management and follow-up, etc.), which it upgradesin line with user feedback.

Ideal for firms with atypical or complex business processes or rules, or multi-entity companies.

VSActivity's concrete benefits:

• Unlimited business parameterization: Veryswing has designed an ERP that adapts perfectly to the most specific rules (particular margin calculations, atypical validation workflows, hybrid business models, etc.), without costly development. Practices with complex fee structures are clearly part of the target.
• Enterprise portal: an integrated enterprise portal centralizes communications, alerts, tasks and requests, creating a single point of entry for all interactions. For firms whose consultants are mainly on assignment at customer sites, this service facilitates the search for internal information.
• Guaranteed data security and sovereignty: ISO 27001 certification, 100% French hosting and strict partitioning of data by client. This secure architecture meets the requirements of sensitive sectors.

VSActivity (vsa)

11 reviews

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Boost Productivity with Advanced Project Management

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How to choose your ERP for consulting firms?

Alignment with your priority field issue

Identify your major problem and choose the solution that excels in this specific field. The classic mistake is to choose an ERP for its overall functional richness, when you should instead target the one that excels on your specific "pain point".

👉 F or example:

• if your priority is staffing optimization, choose Stafiz or Kicklox rather than a general-purpose solution;
• for the financial chain with integrated accounting, Akuiteo would be more appropriate.

Estimating total costs over 3 years

Calculate all costs precisely:

• licenses ;
• implementation ;
• training (0.5 to 1 day per key user) ;
• integrations ;
• specific developments (allow for 20% additional budget) ;
• annual maintenance (15-20% of initial cost).

For a firm of 50 consultants, you can expect to pay around €90K, and up to €200K over 3 years. This TCO approach will help you avoid budget surprises, which are common in this type of project.

User experience for adoption

Specifically test the ergonomics of consultant interfaces.

Evaluate :

• time entry processes ;
• the quality of the mobile application ;
• the simplicity of validation workflows;
• the relevance of profile-based dashboards.

💡 Have your future real-life users test the ERP! A solution that's technically perfect, but not adopted by employees, becomes a wasted investment.

Sector relevance

Check that the ERP is tailored to the specifics of your business.

For example, you might want to check that it includes a success fee management function for strategy firms, a contract management function for ESNs, or a complex planning function for auditors.

Generic functionalities will not suffice most of the time.

Ability to integrate with your ecosystem

Examine the quality of APIs.

💡 As a reminder, APIs are the native connectors with your critical tools: check automated export/import capabilities and compatibility with your infrastructure. Ask for real demonstrations of these integrations, and don't confine yourself to promises.

Human and organizational aspects

Evaluate the cultural closeness of the vendor. Find out about the quality of support (response times, availability), the user community and the proposed change management process. Contact references similar to your firm to verify these aspects, which are absolutely decisive.

💡Our advice: to use these criteria effectively, you can adopt a three-step approach:

• create a weighted evaluation grid according to your specific priorities ;
• make contact and organize targeted demonstrations based on your real-life use cases, not generic presentations;
• contact and, if possible, visit similar user firms to observe the tool in real-life conditions.

See all software Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

ERP for consulting firms in a nutshell

A final word: the true indicator of an ERP's success is not its technical sophistication. Rather, it's its rate of daily adoption by consultants. Successful consultancies have understood this: they start by optimizing the "consultant journey", even before focusing on advanced reporting or analysis functionalities for management.

Consultants work under constant pressure, usually on the client side, with high utilization targets (80-85%). They will rarely spend more than 5 to 15 minutes a day on administrative tasks, regardless of the strategic importance of ERP for the firm. A consultant who has to spend 15 minutes entering his CRA will often postpone this task... until it accumulates over several days!

Clearly, the ERP must offer a visible personal benefit: visualization of future planning, monitoring of usage targets, access to expense reports currently being processed, and so on. Or intelligent notifications sent at the right moment (end of day, eve of month-end).