4 Signs Your Business Needs An ERP

Small businesses usually start with technologies and solutions that fit their current needs, without anticipating future growth. As your business grows, your existing business management solution might not be able to support the new requirements, and you may end up trying to find ways to patch those needs.

Some businesses will resort to purchasing different ad-hoc software and solutions for specific needs. Doing so will result in the hassle of managing information across multiple systems. For businesses that opt to get things done manually, it will require additional staff to do work that the system could automate. This move adds cost but not necessarily increases productivity.

Every business has unique requirements and needs, and there may be no single indicator to identify the need for an ERP. However, there are many benefits a business can gain from implementing an ERP solution.

Top 4 Signs Your Business Needs An ERP Solution

A Myriad of Softwares To Fulfill Different Needs

Small businesses that start with accounting software may find that they eventually need new functionalities such as customer relationship management, inventory management, field service, etc. Often most, it is the best way to add on a new solution that replaces the entire solution, which is working perfectly for accounting purposes. While it may seem like the right solution at the beginning, having different software for different processes can undermine data integrity due to multiple data entry points. The different systems will also mean that information will be silo-ed to those systems without the ability to share it seamlessly across different processes. ERP solutions integrate all data into one single database that is accurate and real-time.

Spending Too Much Time Monitoring The Business

One of the signs that your business management solution is no longer helping you manage your business is when you have to spend more time and resources to monitor your processes, workflows, and your team. Constant monitoring is a time-wasting exercise and will inhibit your staff from working on new ideas and uncovering new business opportunities. ERP solutions typically have dashboards that allow higher management to have an overview of key performance indicators (KPIs). Real-time information will enable you to have a transparent view of your business without the need to request manual reports, which are time-consuming and not necessarily accurate. Managers will also have their reporting structures assigned correctly in the systems to enable them to manage their team’s work cohesively and efficiently. Reports can also be automatically generated and sent to its intended recipients in a timely manner. You can also set up notifications so that the system can proactively give you inform you of issues to address.

Lack of Integrated Information Between Departments

The lack of information sharing between departments can result in poor customer service and the inability to deliver products and services on time. Information break-down can happen when there is little or no information sharing between different departments. E.g. if inventory management is not linked to customer contact, the sales team will not be able to know the exact product that the customer has purchased in the past. Seamless flow of information between finance, sales, marketing, inventory management, warehouse, logistics will ensure that all staff has access to the right information when needed. There is no need to perform manual entry or do ad-hoc queries to answer queries from customers, which saves time and increases productivity.

Access to Information Anytime Anywhere

If you and your staff are not able to access information quickly when you need it, there is a high chance that you are not using the right business solution to run and manage your business. The right system will provide access information to the right team member (by roles and authority) so that they can be empowered to execute their duties without needing to rely on external assistance. An effective ERP solution can be configured to provide the right access to the right person without sacrificing the need for confidentiality on specific information. E.g., A salesperson can access financial information about their customer but would not be able to access the full financial details of the company.

ERP can give you the agility to respond to changing business needs. If you are in search of the right ERP solution or you are getting tired of your patchwork systems, contact us for a free consultation. MicroChannel has assisted many companies in the region in selecting the best-fit ERP solution based on their requirements, business growth projections, and budgets.