Every year, businesses invest billions on ERP solutions to support their company. With this worldwide confidence, it’s a safe assumption ERP software is beneficial.
But do you understand how ERP could benefit your business? Do you even know what to expect from one? In this post, we’ll explore the advantages ERP software can bring to help you see why it’s worth adding to your business.
Data Integrity
An ERP will make sure everyone in your business is working from a single source of information. In turn, everyone uses the same data. And that data is easy to access; there is no more searching through files to find the right printed report or manually collating figures from several spreadsheets. The data in ERP systems is retrievable almost immediately, and all users access the same information, ensuring consistency across the business.
Better Internal Performance
An ERP system can enhance cross-functional communication. Departments are no longer split or forced to work separately, and everyone benefits from better communication and collaboration.
With all departments using the same IT system, there are fewer barriers to negotiation, and projects can be delivered more quickly and accurately. An ERP system unifies critical business functions, letting departments to work together more effectively.
Improved Decision-Making
With an ERP in place, you get 360-degree real-time insight that can be used to base critical business decisions on. This information helps with understanding the financial health of the company and supports the decision-making process. This software can also analyse the data quicker and more reliably, making for far faster and more accurate reporting too.
An ERP system tracks a variety of KPIs, allowing a company to decide if its stock turnover rate is too low, whether the marketing ROI from the latest campaign is good enough, or how opening a new office will impact the bottom line.
Efficient Customer Service
If you want to improve your customer relationships, an ERP is a reliable solution. It will let you answer enquiries quickly and effectively, with staff able to view relevant information instantly.
Customers won’t be left waiting around while staff track down an order status for example – a quick loading system with all the necessary details lets staff move straight on to finding solutions that suit your company and your customer.
Making this process as smooth as possible will increase customer satisfaction and make sure customers know your company is taking any issues seriously and acting in their best interests.
Additional Sales
This improved customer service will also inspire more loyalty among existing customers – in turn inspiring repeat purchases.
Another way an ERP can increase sales is by improving targeting. It gives access to detailed customer data which allows you to run cross-sell and upsell marketing campaigns efficiently. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools also give your sales team the information they need to follow up with prospects who have responded to marketing campaigns.
Enhanced Efficiency and Productivity
Automating processes with an ERP helps you get things done faster while also increasing accuracy. In fact, 95% of businesses achieve major improvements after using ERP through “reducing process times, increasing collaboration, and centralising enterprise data.”
This reduces the time it takes to conduct vital financial processes, like the monthly or year-end close, for example. Using NetSuite, NoBlue customer Divine Chocolate was able to cut the time it takes to complete a financial close by more than 50%.
Better Employee Satisfaction
Automation also reduces your reliance on the manual input of staff, leaving them freed up to carry out more challenging and interesting tasks. This can raise motivation and morale within the company, which has plenty of further positive benefits.
Having a happier, more motivated workforce is rarely an objective when it comes to planning an ERP implementation; it is certainly a positive and welcome outcome.
Reduced Costs
Through automation, better decision-making and enhanced analytics, ERP systems bring about a reduction in a company’s costs.
In the warehouse, an ERP can optimise stock holding, maximise the use of space or improve picking efficiency. The Finance team can bill customers quickly and track invoices through the system to ensure on-time payments. Project managers can minimise the time that team members are non-billable, increasing productivity and per-engagement profits.
An ERP system is estimated to reduce operational costs by 23% and administrative costs by 22%. This is a large reduction for any business.
Profit and Growth
With all the benefits of ERP systems that have been outlined above, a company has the perfect foundation for growth and development.
Reducing costs, improving productivity and enhancing sales all lead to a company achieving greater profitability. In turn, this sets the scene for growth, with a company able to reinvest profits in the business.
Profit can be used to expand via organic growth, such as through expanding the workforce, opening new offices, or increasing the number of sales outlets. Or a company can extend its marketing and advertising to attract new prospects or enter new markets. Profit can even be used for mergers and acquisitions or to appeal to new investors.
Are there signs that your company needs ERP software? In what ways would an ERP affect your business? To find out, book an appointment now or contact us; our team of certified consultants can provide a free business consultation with an assessment of the improvements you can expect.
