ERP Selection Consultant, Lebanon

Why currency handling is the first filter in Lebanon

In most countries, currency is a configuration detail. In Lebanon it is close to the core of the business model. Prices may be quoted in US dollars, payments received in Lebanese pounds or in cash dollars, suppliers paid at one rate and payroll recorded at another, while owners want results in both currencies at once.

So I start the selection by writing down your currency rules with your finance team and accountant, then turn them into a short knock-out test that every candidate must pass before a full demo is scheduled. The test asks whether the system can:

• Hold more than one rate type for the same currency pair and choose the right one for each kind of transaction.
• Store the original amount, the rate applied and the converted value on every document.
• Produce management reports in dollars and pounds without exporting to a spreadsheet.
• Revalue open balances according to your accountant's method.

Some platforms handle this natively, some need configuration and some need custom development. All three can be acceptable, but the effort and the risk differ, and they must be visible before you choose. Which rate to use for what is your accountant's decision; my job is to make sure the system can follow it. The multi-currency ERP guide covers the general problem.

Shortlists and demo scripts for Lebanese operations

Candidates that pass the currency test go into a shortlist shaped by size and sector. Small trading or services firms often compare Zoho with Odoo; hospitality and food groups look closely at point of sale and recipe costing; distributors and groups with companies abroad tend to add ERPNext or Dynamics 365 Business Central. I describe each option's strengths and limits without ranking platforms in general.

Scripted demos then test the shortlist on your own cases. Typical Lebanese scenarios include:

• A quotation in dollars, an invoice and a partial payment in pounds at a stated rate, and the customer statement in both currencies.
• Cash received in two currencies across several outlets or branches and reconciled at day end.
• Receiving post-dated checks, where your business uses them, and tracking them until they clear.
• Intercompany charges between a Lebanese company and a sister company abroad, with consolidated reporting.
• Invoices and statements printed in Arabic, French or English depending on the customer.

Your process owners score each scenario as standard, configured or customized. For context on two common candidates, see Odoo and ERPNext compared and my ERPNext notes for Lebanon.

Judging implementers on depth and continuity

The implementer matters as much as the software everywhere, but in Lebanon one question deserves extra weight: what happens if the people who built your system are no longer available? Many implementers are small teams, and some serve clients across the region from Beirut or from the Gulf. A strong individual consultant is valuable; a project that depends entirely on one person is fragile.

I put the same questions to every implementer:

• Who are the named consultants and developers, and who backs them up?
• Is every customization documented, kept in a repository you can access, and handed over at the end?
• Who will hold administrator and hosting credentials, and will your company have its own?
• How is support provided, in which hours, and in Arabic, French or English?
• Which recent clients of similar size and sector can we speak to?

Reference calls test the answers. I ask former clients about continuity of staff, response times after go-live and how change requests were handled. A slightly weaker product with a well-organized implementer can be the safer choice, and the scoring sheet makes that trade-off explicit. If you want an outside view of proposals you already hold, see the independent second opinion option.

Hosting and resilience when power and internet are unreliable

Many Lebanese businesses run on a mix of grid power, generators and backup batteries, and internet quality varies between locations. An ERP choice that assumes constant power and connectivity can stall a restaurant, a warehouse or a branch at the worst moment. Resilience therefore belongs in the selection, not only in the implementation plan.

Every vendor and implementer answers these points in writing:

• Whether the system is cloud-hosted, hosted by the implementer or run on a local server, and what each option needs in power protection and connectivity.
• Whether point of sale or warehouse apps keep working offline and how they synchronize afterwards.
• How backups are taken, where they are stored and how often a restore is actually tested.
• Where hosted data is stored, and how you could export everything if you left.

A cloud service avoids running a server room on generator power, but every outlet still needs a reliable connection. An on-premises server carries on over the office network during an internet outage, but someone must own power protection, backups and security. Neither is automatically right. Lebanese rules on electronic transactions and personal data may also affect the choice, and your legal counsel interprets them. My role is to make sure the trade-offs are written down and scored rather than assumed.

Licensing, billing and how the remote selection runs

Ownership cost covers far more than the subscription line. I set per-user subscriptions beside open source with paid hosting and services, and beside bundled suites, then add implementation effort, customization, connectors, migration, training and support. In Lebanon it is also worth asking how each vendor and implementer bills: in which currency, through which payment method and from which country. Those details affect budgeting and accounting, and they are easier to settle before signing than after.

Before signature I review the statement of work. Typical gaps include currency rules described vaguely, Arabic and French templates missing from scope, migration limited to master data and support terms with no response commitments. I accept no commission or referral fee from any vendor or implementer, so the review is written for you alone.

The selection runs remotely, with workshops scheduled in hours that Lebanon and India share and every decision recorded in shared documents. If your requirements are not yet written, start with the Lebanon ERP business analyst work. Once a platform is chosen, my client-side implementation support in Lebanon checks that what was evaluated is what gets delivered. The Lebanon ERP consultant page and Lebanon overview describe the wider work, and the general method is on my ERP vendor selection page.