Many growing businesses ignore the importance of investing in business technology that includes both hardware and software. Most businesses hang on to their basic accounting solution or pieced-together solution or legacy ERP software until a change is urgently required.
A quality Enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution is critical for any business, because it is the core of a business or organization. A fully integrated ERP system allows the seamless flow of information across different departments and functions. It also helps to streamline business processes and improve overall business functions. Typically, an ERP solution covers broad and deep end-to-end processes such as finance, human resources, warehousing, manufacturing, customer relationship, order management, marketing, sales, project management, and more.
It’s simple. There’s no doubt that ERP systems bring multiple benefits to businesses, especially manufacturing companies. Whilst some companies still resist the idea of needing an ERP system, citing cost, being too busy, too small or managing with spreadsheets as justification, most progressive and ambitious businesses are recognising the opportunities an ERP system can provide them. Not convinced? Here’s the top 9 reasons our clients gave us as to why they need an ERP system:
1. Increase Efficiency-
No company wants to be carrying unnecessary stock when they can avoid it. An ERP system enables you to know exactly what stock you need for each job and when you need it
2. Our existing systems don’t do the job-
Plenty of companies struggle with a legacy system which may once have done the job but is now woefully inadequate to do the job of the modern ERP system. Eventually you’ll find that this is no longer sustainable, whether through lack of vendor support, a knowledge gap created when users leave or just plain old lack of functionality stopping you from getting any meaningful information.
3. We’ve got too many spreadsheets-
The humble spreadsheet might once have been a fantastic resource to store your data and even provide some basic analysis of that data but it’s long been surpassed by the ERP system. Multiple spreadsheets in companies are still a common occurrence but as your company has grown, you’ve probably got too much information to be handled by your existing spreadsheets alone.
4. Minimise errors-
An ERP system offers you the opportunity to reduce human error significantly. Where departments use their own standalone systems, incorrect or inconsistent data can be entered into each system. With ERP software, everything comes together so information only needs to be entered once.
5. Better functionality-
In today’s accountable society, many jobs require accurate traceability. You’ll need a system in place that can provide full traceability, manage your stock levels, schedule your production floor and manage plenty of other functions. Yes, you’ll need an ERP system!
6. It’s time to consolidate our data and get real time info –
You may be using a range of spreadsheets or have multiple ‘best of breed’ systems but do they fully integrate with each other to give you a full picture of what’s happening in your business? Without having all your data in one place, it’s difficult to make big decisions about what needs to be done.
7. We need to gain ISO accreditation so we can move into new markets
Certain industries and companies demand their suppliers are quality accredited. Whilst gaining accreditation can be a long process, it is significantly easier with a good ERP system in place. You need an ERP system to support your business’s end-to-end processes and ensure standardisation and process uniformity are the norm.
8. Visibility of what’s happening on the shop floor
An ERP system will track all your jobs from enquiry through to invoice and, what’s more, will schedule them in to maximise the efficiency of your shop floor capacity.
9. We want to increase the value of our company and grow
It’s hard to increase the value of your company when you’re relying on outdated systems and spreadsheets. Owners looking for an exit strategy from their business can create greater order and control by bringing in an ERP system to reduce inventory, streamline processes and speed up the flow of jobs through the company, resulting in an improved bottom line.
How many of these reasons resonate with you? If you’re thinking that you may well need an ERP system, then give us a call on +91 90828-42215 or drop us an email at richa@thevirtuvantagecfo.com.