By Simoni Shah
Is your business suffering from lack of communication between different departments? Are the manual processes for documentation, record keeping, inventory tracking causing a headache? Are you willing to know what your consumers are looking for?
There is competition everywhere; for organizations to survive this race they need to have some really robust system to battle against their competitors. Implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution will be an answer to all your questions.
ERP can be definitely considered to be the backbone of modern industries. They bring together almost all business functions like sales, logistics, human resources, and statutory compliance in one single platform. It also takes care of the enterprise’s most important people: employees, customers, and vendors. You may be surprised to know that according to a study by Aberdeen Group, companies that implement ERP are 66% more efficient in reducing the total time for an order to delivery. ERP systems are used by almost all kinds of enterprises to streamline their highly specialized business processes.
Some of the reasons why an ERP system is the perfect solution for your business to survive in this competitive world are detailed below.
See What Is Happening in Real Time
In today’s fast-growing business environment, employees are keen to get information as quickly as possible. ERP creates a single database and makes this possible whenever required. This helps managers handle the organization efficiently, and establish seamless communication across various departments. Managers can now make better decisions as they have to no longer go with their instincts, they have access to data and a lot of data.
Implement a Touch of Automation
Measuring performance metrics is an important key to evaluating business progress and to planning the company’s long-term objectives. As the company starts evolving, it becomes increasingly difficult to calculate sales margins, profit and loss ratios, and similar metrics.
ERP software will automate business processes which will allow employees all over the organization to access shared resources and eliminate the need for manual records. Automatic reports can also be generated to give a glimpse of what is working and what is not and where improvements are required.
Make Data Transparent Yet Secured
What is the most important asset of a company? It’s data. Definite measures should be taken to protect it. Data security and integrity is the key that makes sure strategic business information is processed and accessed by the right people. ERP will not only keep your data secure but will also make sure that only specific people have access to this data.
With an ERP system, strategic information can be gathered at one place and the updating can be done by one or more authorized people. Thus, ERP software introduces transparency and security at the same time.
Maintain Consistency and High-Quality Products
Quality control goes beyond the operational jargon. ERP is now considered as one of the most powerful tools for tracking quality control measures within an organization.
ERP comes with various features which can help the worker’s record company vital information. For example, if a company has to follow the same procedure to build a product every time, the process can be documented to make sure that internal quality standards and compliance requirements are met consistently.
Control Your Inventory
Your warehouses may be stuffed with lots of products and collection of stock items. But if you a have an ERP software in place, you can give each product a unique identification number which makes it easy to track. ERP software will give you accurate statistics about the amount of inventory in your godowns and warehouses. Automatic reports can be generated on the basis of these data which can help the manufacturing department plan their future production schedule.
Modern ERP software is very well equipped with advance feature like double-entry inventory, drop shipping, cross-docking, multi-warehouse, etc.
Improve Your Company’s Financial Health
With ERP software, you can — with much accuracy — analyze cost factors and associate it various business aspects. You can have real-time information on budgets, cost flow analysis, historical cost variance reviews, etc.
ERP software also helps in variance management. It takes the cost of manufacturing and other related expenses in consideration and calculates the total expense for any project which can easily be reviewed and adjusted to meet the business expectations.
Serve Your Customers Better
The overall customer experience depends on one and only one factor: the way they are served. With an ERP software in place, you can have a 360-degree information about your customer interaction.
If your ERP software is properly integrated, then as soon as a sales order is received, it is immediately sent to production and shipped, reducing the possibility of delayed or missed deliveries. You can provide real-time information to customers about their product location, which will help you earn their trust thus increasing their confidence in your company. High-quality products delivered on promised time will ensure repeat and successful business.
In a Nutshell…
With ERP software, you will have a complete visibility about every aspect of your value chain. This will help you make critical business decisions easier and maintain a competitive position in your industry sector. Financial data will always be accurate and real-time with synchronization between finance, distribution, and manufacturing departments. So, if you have not already invested in ERP software than this should be the next most important thing you should consider because ERP software is not a requirement anymore, it’s a necessity.
Photo credit: ERP concept from Photon photo/Shutterstock