Imagine this: it’s Saturday afternoon, and while your family and friends are enjoying an outdoor barbecue and enjoying time together, you’re at the office trying to wrap your head around all the paperwork lumped on your desk.
Unorganized folders are spread out everywhere and contain everything from customer satisfaction reports and accounting discrepancies to product surplus numbers and order volume. It’s all right there in front of you, and it’s overwhelming.
This situation is all too common in growing businesses and companies around the world. Your business is doing so well that it’s hard to keep up. If this sounds familiar, it’s time to invest in an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. An ERP system allows you to stay on top of your business by centralizing everyday business processes in an easy-to-navigate system.
An ERP system manages, interprets, collects, and stores data from all aspects of your business in an easy-to-access integrated management system that focuses on your business’s essential everyday tasks. ERP improves performance by automating certain business functions.
There’s no specific way to know for sure when it’s time to invest in an ERP system, but here are some telling signs your business might be ready:
Currently have many different software managing different processes
Do you have many separate front- and back-end processes working simultaneously? Communication can be stunted when many decision-makers are working independent of one another. Different hubs of departmental information may not be shared as fluently as is necessary.
ERP systems mitigate this problem. All business systems – from accounting and inventory to sales and HR, operate functionally within the same database, and, when used correctly, they can show up-to-the-minute data throughout your business.
This eliminates information overload and confusion, which allows employees to make decisions more quickly and efficiently.
Don’t have easy access to the data and information related to your business
How long would it take you to find out specific sales and inventory numbers if an investor approached you tomorrow? What about sales per day? If you inhale a questioning breath and cringe at the thought of the process, it’s time to invest in an ERP. If you are currently relying on paper spreadsheets and filing cabinets, this process can be tedious and laborious.
Implementing an ERP system allows your employees to get the information they need quickly, do their jobs more efficiently, and free up time for higher-level projects. Decision-makers can get an overall picture of operations quicker than ever, and customer service reps can call up customer queries without the need to rustle through years of files.
This allows for a fast data exchange with real-time data which optimizes workflow across departments.
Difficulty with & too much time spent on accounting
Most businesses focus on paper-based sales orders and paper-based invoices. This fills up filing cabinets quickly and often; pieces get lost in the shuffle. One of the most blatant signs your business is ready for an ERP system will come from your accounting department.
Ask yourself: How much time is spent every week manually entering accounting information, something an ERP system can do instantaneously?
An ERP system allows all of your finances to live in a singular database, eliminating the need for tedious tasks like manual data reconciliation, re-keying numbers, or cross-posting information to departments across the business.
Sales & customer experience are suffering
How do you manage your customer data, sales data, and inventory data? If separately, it might be time to invest in an ERP system.
What happens if you run out of product? Sales tank until the next shipment. What happens if a customer inquires about availability, but you can’t track inventory in the warehouse? You look less than professional.
Bringing an ERP system into your business allows your employees to access the same information in real-time, eliminating these problems.
IT is too complicated, time-consuming & costly
IT management can be a
load to bear and can be expensive as well. It can be hard to customize IT
systems, and upgrades can be confusing, complicated, time-consuming, and
expensive.
A cloud-based ERP system
increases flexibility and efficiency within your business, allowing you to
change more efficiently, slashing IT costs. Whether your business is looking to
optimize operation or employ cutting-edge tech, an ERP system can help.
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