All businesses, no matter their size or scope, from fashion retailers, to automotive parts manufacturers, have one shared challenge – staying relevant in today's competitive landscape. Today, due to vast mutability in business dynamics and the rapid pace of change, most companies can't predict how their business model will look like in the next 2-3 years.
Compounded by both the shock and the aftershock of the pandemic, and the surge in remote working and e-commerce, organizations must reconsider their operations to stay afloat.
The one saving grace has been, and continues to be, digitization. Digital business management solutions, such as ERP, and other innovative tools that even the smallest of businesses can onboard to help them effectively automate, accelerate, manage and control their end-to-end operational business processes, financials, and much more. If you're thinking about implementing an ERP system, upgrading your current infrastructure, or if you're still on the fence about it, understanding not only its many benefits but how it can meet your organization's unique needs, should be your first step.
What powers an ERP system, and how can ERP empower you – and your business? We've wrapped short answers to this question into the “Top Seven Benefits of ERP” list. Here's what you need to know.
The “ABC” of ERP
Like many business owners or managers, if you're a novice, or completely new to the ERP space, perhaps the best definition of ERP is that it's a business management software that allows an organization to leverage a suite of integrated applications to manage and control its operations, from start to finish. ERP systems are large-scale software packages that enable full visibility into core business processes, to track and control complex business operations.
Imagine, if you will, that an ERP is the “brains” behind your business. It functions to control and manage your extremities, such as your employees, departments, teams, and projects, and your vital organs, such as your core processes, financial management, marketing & sales, human resources, customer service, manufacturing, distribution, and more. In a word, an ERP is the command post, collecting and analyzing data, making decisions, keeping processes intact and flowing seamlessly, and all the while, driving your business forward. It serves as a core organizational hub that helps automate and streamline workflows, and in turn, creates more precise, more efficient operations, to ultimately save you valuable time, resources, and costs.
And if that's not enough reason to consider ERP, here are seven more:
Greater output
It's all about boosting productivity, and with ERP software, it's all about automated processes, from generating purchase orders, to tracking shipments around the globe. By reducing manual, mundane, and repetitive tasks, employees can focus on and spend their time on other essential activities. With ERP's central database, with real-time, always accessible business information, duplicate entries and human errors fast become a thing of the past, replaced by accurate data that powers both productivity and efficiency.
Lower costs
As your workflows become leaner, faster, and more efficient, an ERP system helps you effectively decrease operational costs. ERP runs on a single platform across all departments company-wide, a fact that can save you significant IT costs by replacing disparate in-house systems. This means lower costs required for maintaining multiple software licenses, maintenance and support fees, system administration costs, and more.
Single source of data
With data collected company-wide and integrated into a single database, a central data repository, it's significantly easier to store, access, analyze, and share your company information. With a single data source, the collaboration between teams, departments, and all stakeholders in the supply chain is faster and easier. Consistently available data leads to better-informed business decisions and helps facilitate critical forecasting to ultimately increase sales.
Report generation
ERP systems provide robust built-in reporting systems that enable employees to easily generate a wide range of customized reports based on real-time information. With accurate real-time planning and reporting tools, company stakeholders gain a holistic view of their operations, to make smarter, better-informed business decisions.
Secure data
With an ERP system, your sensitive business and customer data are highly secure, and the system includes varying user-level permissions as to who can view and edit your information. What's more, when your data is stored in a central, cloud-based ERP system database, it's exceedingly more secure than it would be on legacy standalone solutions. ERP's enhanced data security also helps your organization comply with data regulations, such as GDPR, and other mandatory requirements.
Customers first
Your customers are your business, and your business is to enhance the customer experience by providing the best possible support and service. An ERP system gives your service center and sales reps fast and easy access to customer information – at any time, all the time. This means faster problem resolution, easily accessible customer history, including billing, service calls, delivery schedules, and more.
ERP on-the-go
With today's cloud-based ERP systems and mobile ERP applications, you can essentially “carry your business with you.” No longer is the ERP system confined to head office or to the shop floor. Modern and flexible ERP systems allow employees to work remotely from their laptops, while a wide range of powerful mobile ERP apps with full system functionality, can be accessed from any mobile device or tablet.
Lessons learned
While an ERP can be a costly upfront investment, in the long term, implementing a modern ERP system, can put you ahead of the competition, with smart and efficient tools that your competitors simply don't have. At Priority, we believe that a modern business management system should be flexible, scalable, and adaptable as your company grows. In other words, adjust your business without changing your platform. You can start with the functions you need promptly, and unlock additional capabilities as needed. This means no disruptive and costly system enhancements, minimized failed implementation risks, and reduced system TCO. But what are the real benefits of a flexible ERP?
One such example, is long-time customer, Electra Group, a leading global construction and facility management company with over 8,000 employees. The company first implemented Priority in 2006 and has steadily grown from managing 12 to 110 companies on a single Priority installation. Alex Salkovsky, Business Technologies Manager at Electra, sums up Priority's flexibility. “Priority's agile system and unique scalability has enabled us to grow, and continue to benefit from Priority's powerful tools and functionality. Real-time management and control of our business, manufacturing, and sales operations – all in one system, plus all of our analytics in one language, between all our companies. This means that over 150,000 line items, all of our customers and suppliers in all 110 companies, plus hundreds of service technicians using Priority's mobile apps, are managed the same way – with Priority.”
The Author
