With nearly 50 years of MIS and ERP systems experience assisting 500+ clients across North America, Lawrence specializes in ERP system selection and ERP system diagnostic projects. He helps SMEs in the distribution, manufacturing and service sectors embrace best-business practices in one of two ways:
Lawrence practices among a rare breed of professionals that are equally comfortable with technology, business process and human resource issues and challenges. He has always understood the connection between software, business processes and his client’s workforce, and that bottom line improvement can only be maximized by addressing these three components concurrently.
Lawrence's clients benefit from his consulting services in several ways:
Lawrence has also provided litigation support services to clients in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, including mediation and expert witness report & testimony.
For the first 30 years of his career, Lawrence was employed in the software development industry. He has held every technologist position in a software development company, including Programmer, Programmer/Analyst, Systems Analyst, Manager of Systems Development, Help Desk Analyst, Manager of Client Services, General Manager, Vice-President and General Manager, Senior Vice-President, Managing Partner and President.
Since becoming an independent management consultant in 2003 to primarily small and medium-sized businesses, Lawrence has completed many different types of consulting mandates, such as:
Lawrence's consulting clients typically are wholesale distributors, manufacturers, service companies and retailers, and have included:
https://lyassociates.com/testimonials, plus others available upon request.
Lawrence greatly assisted us in the analysis of our internal processes and the selection through a precise and dynamic multidisciplinary grid of our organizational needs to of ERP software that would be adapted to our reality.
His pragmatic approach and his understanding of the needs of all departments was able to optimize the choice and implementation in record time, and his involvement went beyond the simple recommendation and he was part of the execution and the final solution. Thank you Lawrence!
Lawrence has good insights and lots of experience in ERP systems and programs. His vast experience has given us more insight on how we can analyze & solve our operational issues, most recently the issues we were facing in our central warehouse.
His comments and analysis were very concise and descriptive for all of our stakeholders to follow. As well, his knowledge, experience and guidance have proven to be very useful to us in dealing with our ERP software provider to ensure that we addressed our needs and resolved our warehouse issues as quickly and cost-effectively as possible.
We would like to offer our thanks to Lawrence for his continuous effort and his vast expertise in ERP systems which allowed us to accomplish our complex project goals.
We are a food processing and distribution company located in Montreal, Québec. Having experienced rapid growth over the last few years, the senior management of the company started looking for an ERP system that is capable of supporting our future growth and providing our management team with all of the necessary tools to keep track of all vital operations.
Lawrence consulted with us during this search and his guidance in the process was extremely useful. He listened very carefully to our needs and quickly established a short-list of pertinent vendors. Thanks to Lawrence, we were able to identify a suitable ERP system for the next phase of our growth.
I would highly recommend working with Lawrence for all your ERP system needs.
We would like to express our satisfaction with the work accomplished by Lawrence within our company. His expertise, professionalism, and commitment have been invaluable assets to the preparation of our ERP implementation project.
Lawrence demonstrated an excellent understanding of our needs and was able to propose innovative and effective solutions. His ability to communicate clearly and collaborate with our team greatly facilitated the progress of the project.
We particularly appreciated his availability and responsiveness to the various requests and challenges encountered.
We highly recommend Lawrence for any consulting mission and look forward to the opportunity to collaborate with him again in the future.
In our recent collaboration, Lawrence demonstrated his extensive knowledge of business processes, strategies, and needs. His ability delve into the specifics of our organization helped us gain a clearer understanding of our requirements. Lawrence delivered a comprehensive analysis and high-level overview of our business processes, which has been instrumental in helping us understand the potential of an ERP system. This work has provided valuable insights, particularly in areas where smaller businesses often face challenges.
Overall, I am very pleased with Lawrence's contributions and expertise. His work has laid a strong foundation for the next steps in our ERP integration journey.
We met Lawrence over five years ago when we decided to embark on a search for a new ERP system. Lawrence was a pleasure from the moment we met – he had a warm personality that integrated well within our organization, and had the knowledge and experience to guide us properly on our quest.
He was very detailed and methodical about the process, which challenged us in good ways to look at our business from different angles, while always keeping an eye on the details. He would often show us that although things looked great at first glance, the “devil was always in the details”.
His constant support and unwavering commitment to our organization’s success was genuine and sincere. He truly enjoys helping people and companies reach their goals. We are fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with Lawrence.
In 2023, we had decided that we needed to replace our ERP systems to meet the complex needs of our business. Lawrence Young was engaged to guide us through the RFP process we were embarking on to find the best fit solution to fulfill our requirements. Lawrence brought extensive experience in the ERP solutions market. He assisted us in identifying the initial list of solutions providers that we would invite to participate in our RFP process. He also guided us through the RFP process based on experience he had accumulated with many organizations over many years.
In the initial weeks, Lawrence organized meetings with our stakeholders to document our requirements. The work product from these meetings was consolidated with additional requirements from management and IT to form the requirements list that was the core of the RFPs sent to the solution providers. Lawrence managed the responses and scored them, allowing us to more easily compare and contrast the different solutions providers’ submissions.
Lawrence’s process allowed us to leverage his accumulated expertise while still tailored to the uniqueness of our business and our distinct processes. He both advised and listened. It was a truly collaborative effort.
Mr. Young provided support to us on a large commercial litigation involving some ERP software matters.
In addition to his professional and approachable demeanour, Mr. Young proved to be an invaluable asset in demystifying the complexities of the technical aspects, as well as adding value to the big picture direction of the file.
He also helped greatly in explaining the issues to the parties and the court in a manner which permitted efficient and effective progress in the file.
We would have no hesitation in recommending Mr. Young as a consummate professional in his field.
When we began our search for a new ERP system, we weren't aware of the type of systems available, what to look for, or even where to start. We spoke to other companies that have been through what we were about to begin and were advised to consult with a professional as making the wrong decision could be very costly and time consuming. We were introduced to Lawrence Young who came highly recommended as a specialist in this field. Aside from being a really nice guy, it was clear that Lawrence knew what he was talking about.
We got together with Lawrence and determined in very high detail all of our requirements. Lawrence then approached many software vendors who he felt could fulfill our needs. We engaged with six companies and then narrowed it down to four based on functionality fit and price, and finally down to two vendors who could best satisfy our needs. The two finalists were both excellent companies, and we decided to go with the one who we felt we could best grow with over the years to come. We are now just in the final stages of implementation, and things have gone very smoothly with no surprises – imagine that!
I would strongly recommend to anyone looking to make a system change that they consult with a professional, and I highly recommend Lawrence Young as a very experienced and capable individual that will make their system upgrade as painless and cost-efficient as possible.
Our firm contracted with Lawrence Young for IT consulting services when we decided it was time to upgrade our computer systems and implement a new ERP system. Although my team was somewhat nervous and reluctant to proceed quickly, we turned to Lawrence for assistance. Lawrence not only provided invaluable insight into where my company was positioned within the IT world, but also was very easy to work with. He was very understanding and easy to approach, and communicated to my employees on their level not his, which in turn kept my staff focused and confident that a new system was what operations required to grow our business.
It became very obvious early within our consultation that Lawrence Young and his team were a great investment and money well spent. It was a pleasure to work with Lawrence and I would certainly look to hire Lawrence Young anytime we require assistance in the future.
Choosing the right ERP software to improve the efficiency of our company and support our continued growth was an important corporate challenge that we needed to meet successfully. We also quickly realized that we needed expert advice given the complexity of the steps involved in selecting new ERP software.
We engaged Lawrence Young to guide and advise us throughout the ERP System Selection process. His vast experience, knowledge and systematic approach were instrumental in identifying our current and future needs, and preparing a comprehensive Request for Proposal that was sent to prospective software vendors.
Lawrence quickly understood our business objectives, challenges and constraints, and immediately related to and inspired confidence amongst all of our key business process owners, no matter what their role in our company. He then performed the detailed requirements analysis phase with each of our departments in an efficient and constructive atmosphere, which was key to assuring that the chosen ERP system would meet our expectations. Lawrence's system selection methodology, coupled with his technical and business expertise, enabled us to effectively compare the different vendor proposals we received, and objectively measure each one's competitiveness ability to satisfy our needs.
We are grateful to have benefited from Lawrence's professionalism and guidance throughout the process of selecting new ERP software for our company, and highly recommend him to other companies who need to select new ERP software.
One of our clients engaged us for ERP system litigation to be initiated against one of the software industry leaders and administered by Mexican courts. Given that we felt that having a strong technical opinion supporting our legal arguments was key to the trial, we hired Lawrence to act as an Expert Witness for this mandate.
Since the beginning of his mandate, Lawrence demonstrated to be both efficient and flexible, as he had to deal with a huge volume of documents and testimonials in Spanish. He was always very committed to the tasks we assigned to him, and he even came to Mexico in order to get a clear and complete picture of the situation.
Lawrence’s involvement in this matter even helped us find important facts and data that had remained unknown, even for the IT department of our client. Moreover, Lawrence proved to be very skillful and to have deep ERP system litigation knowledge, and he drafted an integral and thorough Expert Witness Report that will play a crucial part in the litigation.
We recommend Lawrence to any enterprise or law firm that is involved with ERP system litigation, as he will provide you with the technical input that may be instrumental to winning your trial. Lawrence is definitely someone you want on your side!
Lawrence did exactly what we wanted to have done. We needed someone else to sort through all the systems, and find out which were the best for us. Though we knew the top three, through the work of Lawrence we decided to select a different system at a much lower cost than one of the top three. Some of us had some experience dealing with evaluating systems but we were too busy to focus, so Lawrence took that "bull by the horns" and ran with it.
He took a very disciplined approach to the process and handled all the required legwork. Because of his background, he would ask the penetrating questions and keep the vendors in line and sharp. The way he ran the process, pencils were sharpened sufficiently to offset the cost of his fees, so it didn't really cost us anything, in my opinion.
It's been a good experience working with Lawrence. He is well organized, concise, and it's a good exercise because it makes me and our employees understand a little more of our own business processes. Doing the business assessment with us before putting out the RFP helped us to recognize what we should be doing. Lawrence keeps us focused, and I appreciate how well Lawrence is able to cut through and work quickly.
His involvement in our software selection project was definitely worth the money. To me, anyone wishing to go down the ERP road should not even attempt it without using a consultant like Lawrence.
We retained Lawrence as an expert in litigation about the selection & implementation of an ERP system. For the issues relating to the selection of the system, Lawrence was very knowledgeable about the various products that were available to the purchasing company, and about the suitability of the product that was selected.
Lawrence had an equally deep expertise in the relevant practices and standards for implementing similar systems.
Lawrence analyzed a significant volume of material. He conducted a series of sessions with us in which he explained the technology and the implementation process in a clear step-by-step analysis. Lawrence is very good at explaining technology in language that is thorough but understandable to the non-expert. In our case, Lawrence identified critical issues (pro and con), described additional information we should obtain, and gave concrete advice about how to discuss topics when questioning witnesses and submitting arguments.
He was efficient and very cost-effective—and patient in working through these matters. We were very impressed with his knowledge and professionalism.
In 2011, Lawrence Young was introduced to me by our contact at the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC). His mandate was to assess our information technology platform and operations, and help us develop a plan aimed at optimizing its function to satisfy the specific requirements of our business.
This was a very challenging task hindered by the low availability of our staff to participate in meetings and interviews, and the complexity of our IT operations which involves data management, process monitoring, quality assurance, bio statistical analysis and document control. Furthermore, our IT platform serves two distinct and very different types of users-our staff and our clients. Of course, resistance to change and skepticism were not negligible obstacles to Lawrence’s mandate.
Despite these difficulties, Lawrence was able to overcome all of the problems he encountered, and delivered a comprehensive report describing the current state, reflecting on the critical deficiencies, presenting a thorough risk assessment and developing a prioritized corrective action plan.
In his work, Lawrence demonstrated great insight and a remarkable ability to understand the unique challenges of our business. As a consultant, he was patient and sensitive to the confidentiality of the information he gathered, and he remained objective in all aspects of his mandate. In addition, it was clear that he genuinely cared about the outcome of his work, and was sincerely dedicated to helping us improve our operations.
Last but not least, Lawrence was always direct and honest to a fault. He presented problems, solutions and risks in a clear, direct and unambiguous manner without sparing any of the relevant details.
In short, Lawrence is not one of those consultants that tell you what you want to hear. From Lawrence you will get the truth as he sees it, and it is your choice how to react to it. I consider myself fortunate to have met Lawrence. He brought value to our business, and I would engage him again without a single hesitation.
As a part of our Lean Manufacturing Program, we mandated Lawrence to conduct a review of our existing ERP system with the objective of identifying it’s suitability for the future in the context of the Company’s business plan.
As a manufacturer of hydraulic and pneumatic custom-designed cylinders and control systems, we needed to work with a consultant that understands the complexities of our engineering, manufacturing and administrative processes.
I was impressed with the depth and thoroughness of Lawrence’s report and his quick grasp of the root causes of both our software and process-related problems. The thoroughness of the report produced by Lawrence by far exceeded my expectations, and the resulting recommendations will form the basis for our next-generation software upgrade.
As with most mid-size companies, we did not have the required IT expertise internally to navigate through the ERP selection process. The combination of Lawrence’s experience, knowledge and persistence of keeping the project on schedule resulted in our having a very successful implementation.
Lawrence provided us with senior leadership, was able to quickly understand the dynamics of our business and provided an objective view of our business processes to ensure that we kept the scope in-line with our requirements. When approaching any project, the key is to have the right people on the team who can both create and implement a proper plan of action. Lawrence is definitely someone you want on your team!
We used his expertise to identify our requirements and issue a formal RFP to prospective software vendors. Lawrence then helped us evaluate the numerous proposals we received, including each vendor’s capabilities and value point.
After we signed on the bottom line, Lawrence then helped us deal with implementation issues that arose due to our continuing rapid growth across Canada and into the United States and other markets.
One of Lawrence’s greatest strengths was his ability to communicate effectively with all our employees, and get them to open up and discuss what they felt were the issues that needed to be addressed. His ability to ask the right questions and the get the right answers helped us move forward during a very challenging period of Wirewerks’ growth. Lawrence was a great asset to me and my company, and was worth every penny we paid him.
We contracted Lawrence Young & Associates as advisors during the Request for Proposal process to select new ERP software. Lawrence's depth of knowledge and meticulous approach to the selection process instilled total confidence in our management team. Lawrence also provided useful guidance in the selection process by ensuring a consistent application of a standard set of criteria.
Having taking time to understand our business processes and what features we wanted in new ERP software, Lawrence helped us interface with all the responding software vendors and ultimately determine what features and functionality we needed, and crucially, which product would best satisfy our requirements. The entire process was an education conducted by a very knowledgeable, organized and supportive professional. Thank you Lawrence.
Lawrence Young was retained by us to perform a forensic analysis of custom software equipped computers.
After two previous "experts" were unable to handle the task, Lawrence did a superb job technically, and then backed it up with a stellar performance on the witness stand.
Lawrence is intelligent, articulate, and unshakeable in his testimony. I was very pleased with his performance and I am sure you will be too if you give him the opportunity.
In 2006, we implemented a leading mid-market ERP software package to help us manage our fast-growing company. By 2009 we realized we had made a terrible mistake with the choice we had made-we were more than 50% over budget, the system did not balance, and we had realized very few of the benefits we were promised by the company that sold us the software.
Our external auditors suggested we contact Lawrence Young to help us get out of the mess we were in. After analysing all of the facts, Lawrence thankfully concluded that there was nothing wrong with the software we had chosen, but that the system had been very poorly implemented.
He quickly found us a qualified reseller of the same software who worked closely with him to reconfigure the system, properly train our users and reengineer our business processes. Several months after we first contacted Lawrence, the system was up and running and delivering the information and control we had never been able to obtain previously.
Lawrence is an extremely capable and caring professional who I only wish we had engaged at the beginning of this project. He reacted to our urgent situation and delivered everything he said he would, and on-time and on-budget. Thank you, Lawrence, for putting an end to our suffering!
