For finance leaders looking to scale, there comes a point when Xero alone feels like it’s no longer enough.
Expansion brings additional entities, cross-border reconciliations and transaction volumes that quickly push Xero to its limits.
At this point, many are convinced to “upgrade” to an ERP.
ERP vendors promise epic transformation: one system with total automation and infinite scalability. Sales pitches are well-polished, the marketing machine is prolific, and the message is clear: if you’re serious about growth, move to an ERP.
However, the reality is sobering. Time and again, ERP projects overshoot budgets and timelines, and rather than simplifying workloads, they weigh teams down with complex implementations, hidden costs and new layers of manual work.
Meet the ERP Survivors
More and more finance leaders have experienced the ERP battle and made it back, rebuilding their finance stacks on Xero + best-in-class apps after their ERP nightmare.
They are our ERP Survivors, and they are living proof that you don’t need to abandon Xero to scale. They show that, with the right tools around it, Xero remains the smarter, faster and cheaper foundation.
In this new series, we will be sharing unfiltered accounts from our real-life ERP Survivors. We begin by outlining the arc from Xero to ERP, and the return that defines our survivors' stories.
When Xero feels like it might not be enough
As businesses grow, finance leaders grapple with increasingly complex requirements as a result of multi-entity structures and global expansions.
Month end can stretch up to 10 days, manual workloads spike, and errors start to creep in.
Scaling on Xero feels like it’s hitting a ceiling, and finance leaders start to consider whether ERP is the next step.
Tyler Caskey, Partner at TheBeanCounters, hears this question from clients all the time:
"I'm growing from 2 to 3 entities, do I need to get off Xero?"
The ERP promise
ERP vendors wield their sales and marketing machines to cleverly position themselves as the next logical step, just as you’re feeling the pain. The pitch is simple and persuasive: one single system, total automation and infinite scalability.
Jordan McCreary, CEO at OG, explains what this felt like:
“We’re a 50+ entity business. The received wisdom is that we should use an ERP system.”
Although the cost of ERP is typically ten times more than Xero (the average annual subscription to NetSuite is $95k per year), you’re convinced it’s worth it to achieve an easier, error-free month end.
Finance leaders accept the pitch. Contracts are signed, expectations are sky-high, and we reach the point of no return.
The harsh reality
Once the ink is dry, the glow of ERP promise quickly fades as reality begins to bite.
The story is remarkably consistent: projects spiral beyond budget and timeline, and adoption turns out to be highly complex. Instead of making life easier, ERPs introduce new layers of manual work and dependency on consultants.
Jordan McCreary recalls:
“We had the experience of using NetSuite as a team, the massive subscription costs, the huge implementation fees.”
Mark Ashley sums his ERP experience up well:
“A tale as old as time. It went over budget, and over time.”
But, with the sunk cost fallacy at play, teams remain tied to their ERP migration. Days are wasted on drawn-out migrations, implementing irrelevant features, and wrestling with new processes that add little real value.
Rather than freeing finance leaders, the system becomes an addiction, consuming time, energy and careers.
The turning point
Eventually, finance leaders reach the same conclusion: ERP isn’t the answer.
Grand promises of one single system with infinite scalability rarely survive contact with day-to-day reality. Instead of delivering freedom and efficiency, ERPs leave teams stuck in finance hell, reliant on consultants and paying far more for functionality that isn't really an upgrade.
By contrast, those who step back from the ERP path discover a better way.
They find success in building modern finance stacks with Xero + apps.
Rather than bending processes to fit an “all-encompassing” system, finance leaders can choose the tools that solve their exact problems and work seamlessly together. They achieve the automation and scalability they desire, without the heavy costs and compromises of ERP.
Tyler Caskey recalls a client's experience:
“A global organisation recently went from Sage Intacct [ERP] to Xero with Mayday, Syft Analytics, Joiin and Fathom. Consolidations are 50% faster, and staff love the interface.”
The bottom line
The takeaway from the typical ERP Survivor journey is clear: finance teams don’t need to abandon Xero to scale.
ERP projects promise control, but too often deliver only cost, complexity and fatigue. Xero + apps, on the other hand, provides scalability with flexibility, at a far cheaper cost to your time and budget.
Our upcoming ERP Survivors Series, and the CFO Techstack community, ensure these stories are shared so that finance leaders can learn from them and avoid making the same mistakes.
Over the coming weeks, we’ll go beyond the broader journey and into the personal accounts of our ERP Survivors, starting with Mark Ashley, who experienced how an ERP promise turned into years of cost and complexity before a return to Xero revealed the better way forward.
👉 If you’re an ERP Survivor, we’d love to hear your story.
Reach out to emily.lockyer@getmayday.com
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