You signed the contract. The sales team assured you the software would make your business faster, leaner, and more responsive. Then the ink dried, and something shifted. Suddenly, the relationship feels a little less like a partnership and a lot more like an obligation. Sound familiar?
You're not imagining it. ERP contracts are almost universally structured to protect the provider, not the business that actually has to live with the consequences of the deal. Long commitments, auto-renewals, strict notice periods, and quiet penalties for leaving aren't bugs in the system. They're features, and they work exactly as intended once you're locked in.
At Stellar One, we've spent collective decades inside the ERP industry, and we've seen firsthand what happens to small and midsized businesses after they sign traditional ERP contracts. We know what years two, three, and beyond look like when a provider's incentives shift, buyer leverage disappears, and the flexibility you were promised turns out to have never actually been in the contract.
In this article, we're going to walk you through how standard ERP contracts are designed, how they quietly change the power dynamic over time, and what a genuinely fair ERP agreement should look like. Here's what we'll cover:
- How Did ERP Subscriptions Become About Lock-In?
- How Do ERP Contracts Change the Power Dynamic?
- Why Do ERP Platform Notice Periods Exist, and Why Do Buyers Accept Them?
- What Happens After Year One of an ERP Subscription?
- What Should Real Flexibility in ERP Solutions Look Like?
- How Does Stellar One Approach ERP Contracts Differently?
Let's start with how subscription agreements got structured this way in the first place.
How Did ERP Subscriptions Become About Lock-In?
In theory, subscription software should favor the buyer. You pay for access, and if the value disappears, so should the relationship. In practice, ERP subscriptions rarely work that way.
Most ERP agreements are built around terms that serve a very specific purpose: revenue certainty for the provider. These terms get presented as "standard," but there's nothing inevitable about them. Common contractual mechanisms include:
- Multi-year commitments with limited exit options
- Automatic renewals that trigger with little or no notice to the buyer
- Strict notice periods that protect the provider's revenue forecast
- Penalties, explicit or buried in fine print, for leaving early
Once you're under contract, the business risk shifts almost entirely in one direction. The provider's revenue is secured for a defined period regardless of how responsive, proactive, or helpful they actually are. That kind of structural insulation tends to change behavior whether anyone intends it to or not.
How Do ERP Contracts Change the Power Dynamic?
ERP systems sit at the center of a business. Changing them is disruptive, time-consuming, and risky. Providers know this better than anyone, and contracts amplify that reality by removing the buyer's most important lever: the ability to leave when value declines.
Early on, attention is sharp. Response times are fast, questions are welcomed, and problems feel urgent. Everyone is aligned around getting things right. Over time, though, the incentives shift. When revenue is guaranteed by a contract, urgency becomes optional for the provider.
This shift isn't usually dramatic. It's subtle. Buyers begin to notice patterns that wouldn't have been acceptable at the start of the relationship:
- Issues take longer to resolve than they used to
- Proactive recommendations dry up unless they're tied to new spend
- Conversations feel transactional rather than collaborative
- The fastest way to get real attention is to signal dissatisfaction
Eventually, buyers internalize the friction. They stop asking certain questions. They delay changes and work around problems rather than pushing to resolve them, because the cost of pushing starts to feel higher than the benefit. Even when the system has real potential to improve, inertia wins.
This situation doesn't necessarily show up because providers are malicious. Contracts simply make complacency feel safe. True partnerships don't rely on lock-in to stay intact. They rely on continuous value, mutual accountability, and the understanding that the relationship should exist by choice rather than obligation.
Why Do ERP Platform Notice Periods Exist, and Why Do Buyers Accept Them?
One of the most common justifications for rigid ERP contracts is the notice period. Thirty days. Sixty days. Sometimes longer. But notice periods don't exist because ERP systems are hard to turn off. In fact, access can be revoked immediately.
Notice periods exist to give providers time to attempt to save the account, protect revenue forecasts, and plan for churn without an immediate income hit. In other words, they exist for the seller's benefit, not the buyer's. And yet buyers accept them, largely because they're told there's no alternative. That this is simply how ERP solutions work, and it’ll look the same anywhere they go.
It isn't. Before signing any agreement with a lengthy notice period, it's worth asking your provider directly: Who does this clause actually protect, and how? The answer will tell you a lot about the partnership you're being offered.
What Happens After Year One of an ERP Subscription?
The first year of a traditional, contracted ERP relationship is almost always the best one. Attention is high, support is responsive, and everyone is genuinely invested in success. Implementation is fresh, and the provider still has reputational skin in the game.
But once implementation is complete and the contract clock is ticking, incentives tend to shift. By that point, the cost of acquiring you has already been recovered, the margin on your subscription has increased, and the provider's primary goal becomes avoiding churn rather than delivering outcomes. That's when many buyers begin to feel stuck.
"Any subscription contract exists solely for the benefit of the person selling you the solution. It is not in your best interest, but in theirs."
—Richard Sellar, Stellar One CEO
Leaving is technically possible but practically painful, and the contract ensures the provider still gets paid while you weigh your options. That's a hard truth, but an important one for any ERP buyer to understand before signing anything.
What Should Real Flexibility in ERP Solutions Look Like?
True flexibility is really about alignment. In a healthier model, providers stay engaged because they have to. There's no contract forcing you to stay, so the only thing keeping the relationship together is the value being delivered, and both sides know it.
A genuinely flexible ERP partnership has a few defining characteristics that set it apart from the standard model, including:
- The genuine ability to leave when value no longer exists
- Ongoing provider incentives to improve rather than coast
- A relationship built around outcomes rather than obligations
- Trust earned through performance rather than paperwork
When providers know members can leave, behavior changes. Transparency improves, responsiveness increases, and long-term thinking replaces short-term protectionism. Ironically, flexibility creates stronger relationships, not weaker ones. Want to see what that looks like in practice? Check out our learning center for a deeper look at how ERP partnerships are evolving.
How Does Stellar One Approach ERP Contracts Differently?
Stellar One's approach starts with a simple premise: A contract should never be the reason a business relationship continues. We’ve set our subscription up so that after an initial onboarding period, flexibility shifts in favor of the member, not the contract. There are no multi-year lock-ins designed to insulate us from accountability.
When members stay because the relationship works, not because they're trapped, everything changes. Support stays proactive. Guidance stays candid. Improvement doesn't require a renewal negotiation to trigger action. We also back our model with commitments most ERP partners won't put in writing, such as:
- Free Implementation with no cost now or later
- 5-Year Price Lock so your subscription cost stays predictable
- Risk-Free Trial so you can see how the relationship actually works before committing
- Unlimited support included in your monthly subscription, starting before go-live
Our goal isn't to make leaving easy, though we have done that. It's to make staying the obvious, unforced choice.
Your Next Steps for Evaluating ERP Contracts
Here's what this all comes down to: The structure of your ERP contract shapes the quality of your ERP relationship. Long lock-ins, automatic renewals, and punishing notice periods aren't standard features of a healthy partnership. They're mechanisms that shift accountability away from the provider and onto you.
If you're currently locked into an agreement that no longer feels like a partnership, or you're evaluating a new ERP solution and the contract terms are raising red flags, those instincts are worth trusting. The leverage you have before signing is the most leverage you'll ever have with the vast majority of providers.
At Stellar One, we've spent over a decade helping small and midsized product companies get more out of their Acumatica investment. We don't use contracts to protect our revenue. We use them to set clear expectations and then get out of the way so the work can speak for itself.
Contracts shouldn't feel like traps. They should feel like a starting point for a relationship worth having. If you want to dig deeper into another place where the traditional ERP model tends to fail buyers, read our next piece in this series: “Why ERP Pricing Changes Every Year and How We Address the Issue.” And when you're ready to see what a straightforward, no-surprise ERP subscription actually looks like for a business like yours, check out our pricing calculator below.
Frequently Asked Questions About ERP Contracts