As a business owner or a manager, you certainly know that growth is a great thing. But as the organization starts growing, so does the workload.
To be precise, everyone in your company will have more work to do and you might even have to bring in some reinforcements. On top of that, the systems administrators of your company will really be under a lot of strain.
Most companies make-do with spreadsheets and e-mail when this happens, but the tediousness of manual logistics will no doubt take its toll. There is no denying that being unable to keep up with customer demand can derail any business during growth phases.
So, how can you help both yourself and your coworkers? How can you all dominate these phases and grow even faster? If only it was possible to make all the dull tasks automated so that you can focus on what matters the most…
Well, it is possible. However, you will need a good ERP system in place. But what is an ERP system and why should you invest in it?
Keep reading to find out.
What is an ERP System and what does it do?
An enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is the name of a special type of software that companies use to handle daily business activities.
These activities can include accounting, procurement, risk management, project management, and regulatory compliances along with supply chain operations.
On top of that, a complete ERP package also includes enterprise performance management, which is another software feature that helps workers with plans, budget allocations, reports, predictions, and everything related to finances.
This kind of system combines numerous business processes and enables the flow of data between them. It is through collecting a company’s shared transactional data from multiple sources that ERP systems provide data integrity with a single source of truth which means that there can be no data duplications.
Thanks to these great features of ERP systems, many companies nowadays claim that these systems are as valuable as electricity. And, this is fairly easy to understand. If a system can handle thousands of businesses of various sizes from almost all industries, there is no doubt that the value is real.
And when you consider that the best ERP system providers such as Oracle offer more than just a system, investing in an ERP solution comes to entrepreneurs as a logical choice. Indeed, Oracle implementation will get you the top-notch system that will be of great help to your administrators and workers.
You are still not convinced? Take a look below and learn about some great benefits that a good ERP system brings to the table.
Benefits of having an ERP system at the office
It is undeniable that the benefits of ERP systems are numerous. But, let’s try to narrow down the list to some perks that are more prominent than the other ones.
These include:
- improved accounting
- better response times
- regulatory compliance
- better inventory monitoring
- enhanced productivity
Now, let’s take a look and see how exactly a good ERP system can help you reap the above-listed perks and better your organization.
Improved accounting
Growth phases can be quite tricky and they almost always require all of your team to be on top of their game. However, one segment of your business always needs to be taken care of properly if you don’t want to slip.
Of course, these are finances. Keeping track of your financials is an essential factor that can make or break your company through growth phases.
Seeing that growth brings more complex transactions, things can get overwhelming. And, that’s where a centralized system (ERP) comes into play.
Manual data entry not only harms productivity, but it also allows human errors. When you have an ERP system, it will take care of your incoming and outgoing transactions and that’s how you will eliminate the need for repetitive data entry and thus increase the visibility of important operational data thanks to this kind of system.
Better response times
When you grow enough, you will realize that your service delivery oftentimes is what separates you from your rivals.
And, in order to deliver better customer service, your front liners (executives) and sales team representatives will need maximum access to all information across all departments.
This calls for a unification of all systems. And, that’s what you get with an ERP system. All of the information gets integrated into a single place.
Ultimately, this will give you better response times which can be really important if you want to set yourself apart from the competition.
Regulatory compliance
ERP software can help you ensure that back-office operations are in sync with the regulatory rules of the manufacturing industry.
All serious ERP solution providers monitor compliance and regulatory changes and keep updating their features to help you meet the new requirements.
So, ERP systems not only simplify data processing and streamline internal processes but they also improve the security thanks to features such as regulated data access and built-in firewalls.
And, the integration of multiple processes into a single system means that you will make it easy for your system administrators to control and monitor the security of your software.
Better inventory management
Many growing companies find it difficult to track and monitor the expanding inventory levels. This isn’t difficult to understand since growth phases can sometimes feel like a thunderstorm. Apparently, you need more products to go through these thunderstorms.
Fortunately, the ERP system utilizes barcoding, RFID tags, and serial numbers to keep tabs on your inventory at every stage during the supply chain.
These tools help keep better track of inventory levels at different warehouses, which items are in transportation, and which items are on the shelves ready for consumers.
Of course, the improved warehouse visibility optimizes the pick, pack, and ship process to a huge extent.
On top of that, inventory monitoring also bolsters reporting since tracking technologies provide more accurate numbers. And, users can configure custom KPIs to see which products move the fastest (greater demand) and which increase carrying costs.
ERP systems provide greater precision and warehouse managers, thus, get real-time data on their inventory which enables them to make more accurate business decisions.
Enhanced productivity
Many companies are always trying to enhance productivity levels among employees and that is never easy to achieve.
Of course, with traditional methods, dull tasks cannot be avoided. These include generating reports, monitoring inventory levels, timesheet tracking, and so on. Employees sometimes need hours to finish these tasks and there is no guarantee that the processes will be mistake-free.
Additionally, these processes lower employee morale and simply provoke human error and burnout. Truthfully, after the 50th hour of entering the same line of data into different forms, even the best staff members are bound to make a mistake.
Fortunately, if you find a good ERP system, you will be able to automate these dull tasks. The database within ERP software eliminates redundant tasks such as data entry and allows the system to perform advanced calculations within minutes.
In turn, this will free up your employees’ time and they will be able to do more thoughtful work. That also means that ROI will be increased when it comes to labor.
Bottom line is that ERP, in this case, improves your company’s productivity, efficiency, and profitability.
Final thoughts
Growth brings new challenges and you should take every necessary measure to tackle and overcome those challenges.
If that means investing in technology solutions, so be it. After all, rest assured that your rivals are not sitting around and wasting their time.
A lot of giants in the business world have been using ERP systems for years and this is nothing new to them. So, why not take advantage of this kind of software and become better than the rest.