Standard First
We start with the best practices of modern cloud ERP platforms—not with your legacy processes. This significantly reduces the amount of customization required and ensures long-term upgradeability.
SPARK 2.0 is ICB’s integrated ERP pre-project. It combines all three stages of our consulting process—analysis, selection, and project planning—into a single project, with each stage coordinated and organized into seven parallel steps. This allows us to achieve in weeks what traditional pre-projects take months to accomplish.
The result is a robust decision-making framework that includes a set of objectives, an architectural framework, a budget, a phased plan, and a rollout strategy—all fully documented, well-reasoned, and ready for decision-making.
Why 2.0? Because the AI agents we developed in-house support our consultants in six out of seven steps—they aggregate market data, classify requirements, and model architectures, while our consultants filter, contextualize, and make decisions. AI integration at this level of depth—with clear human oversight—is still the exception among German SMEs.
Each phase concludes with specific, documented deliverables—ready for immediate use in the next step or as a solid foundation for management decisions.
In the SPARK pilot project, AI acts as an accelerator, not a replacement: it handles the sorting, comparison, and drafting—we interpret, synthesize, and take responsibility. This allows us to produce market analyses, evaluation matrices, and decision-making documents in weeks rather than months, without compromising on depth or reliability.
We start with the best practices of modern cloud ERP platforms—not with your legacy processes. This significantly reduces the amount of customization required and ensures long-term upgradeability.
We evaluate only cloud platforms with a clear innovation roadmap. This ensures you make an architectural decision that will still hold up in five years—with a level of innovation that on-premises systems simply can’t match.
AI isn't just a marketing buzzword—it's a hard-and-fast selection criterion. For every provider, we specifically examine: What is currently available for productive use, what's on the roadmap, and what remains a demo?
Most companies face the same challenges when it comes to the future of ERP.
Dozens of ERP providers, but little to no way to compare them. Which one is right for your company, and which ones are just trying to make a sale?
ERP is a multi-million-dollar investment. Bad decisions can set you back years and tie up resources. The implications are daunting.
Your team is tied up with day-to-day operations. Conducting an ERP evaluation “on the side” leads to half-hearted results.
Without a clear analysis of processes, costs, and architecture, management lacks the basis for making informed decisions.
While you are still evaluating, others are digitizing. Those who start too late lose negotiating power with suppliers and the best implementation partners.
Everyone is talking about AI in ERP. But which features actually add real value? And which vendor actually delivers them?
SPARK 2.0 concludes with a final proposal ready for your decision. The implementation itself is no longer part of the preliminary project—but if you wish, we will remain by your side and guide you through the subsequent ERP implementation all the way to go-live.
Learn more about ERP implementation →In 30 minutes, we’ll discuss your current situation and show you exactly how SPARK 2.0 works in your company.