Top Five Signs Your Business Is Ready for an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) System.
End of the month financials are becoming longer and more difficult. Sales forecasts tend to be more guesswork than actual figures. You are struggling to match stock levels with order volume, and customer satisfaction is low. If any of these sound familiar, then you should consider an ERP system.
1 Lots of different software is used for different processes.
How do staff record, track and process information? Do the sales and accounting staff use different systems that in turn makes the process of getting orders posted into accounts a lengthy and tedious task? Do warehouse staff also use a completely different system to accounting and sales staff which again lengthens communications?
When various systems are running separately it can cause havoc on business processes. Without accurate data from sales, there will be no way to keep efficient stock levels, if there is any sort of problem with accounting this can cause lots of problems, especially with anything budget based or even payroll!
ERP software brings together and integrates all these systems so every function works from the one database. An ERP system is one source of information that contains accurate, real-time data, helping staff make better more informed decisions and freeing up more working time.
2 You don’t have easy access to information about your business.
What’s your average sales margin? If you don’t know how long will it take you to find out? If you need to manually update and reconcile these it could be a long wait.
The pace of business is faster than it has ever been, this means that staff must have immediate access to key data. With an ERP system in place, a decision maker can get an overview of all business operations at any time, along with other staff who can get the information they need to do their jobs more efficiently. A perfect example of this would be a sales representative should be able to see a customer’s order history giving them the opportunity to upsell and cross-sell opportunities.
3 The accounting process continues to get longer and is more tedious.
An ERP system can ensure that accounts staff don’t waste their time inputting duplicate information into multiple databases. With an ERP system financial reports will be quicker and easier to produce and be more accurate.
4 Sales and customer experience are not what they could be.
Keeping the correct stock levels is key for business growth. When a business is using different software for sales, stock control and customer information it can cause serious implications. If a business runs out of a specific product, sales will be down until the next shipment arrives. If a customer calls to enquire about their order and you can’t let them know if it’s been shipped, or even if it’s in stock your business will start to develop a poor reputation for reliability and service.
5 Your IT systems are too complex and time-consuming.
If your staff are struggling to keep up with multiple systems that are each performing different business functions, an ERP system can solve this! All business functions are put onto one centralised system making things easier and more efficient for staff.
If you’d like to know more about our bespoke ERP systems, please contact us on either 01827 312217 or drop us an email