We are sure not one person starting or running their own business believes that too be an easy endeavour. Because when it comes to business, a lot of details need to be taken care of: product/services presentation, suppliers and supplies, sales, customers, reclamations, book-keeping, employee management, salaries, overhead expenses costs and many other elements that make a business. Things are more or less simple if you are small, but if you are running a somewhat larger or a large business, that bases its business on product production/sale, there is even more business processes in place, and management gets more detailed, and it even more often requires perfect synchronization.
These kind of situations require assistance of a software, and one of the over-all solutions for this problem is known as ERP. ERP (Enterprise resource planning) is a system that enables data exchange in real time between different departments. This is usually a group of integrated applications a business uses for gathering, storing, managing and interpretation of data from various business activities. In other words, ERP system is a solution that will improve the efficiency of business in your company through better management of your company resources.
The biggest benefits of ERP system
The biggest value of ERP systems lays in the fact that the company has access to accurate and prompt information (computers are never wrong) that help with faster decision making. Apart from that, there is also a set of valuable benefits for companies thanks to this system that is capable of running a series of automated actions:
linking of all departments with the help of the ERP software helps transparency and organization of the company
managers and business supervisors get all required information in real time, which helps them make quicker and smarter decisions
tracking system of all actions of the business is much more detailed, and all the business functions of the company are transparent
due to the optimization of resources, business costs are lower and the profitability of the company grows
many day-to-day actions are now automated: order managing, sales orders, calculation of travel orders and per diems, calculation of working hours, fuel consumption and overhead management
But it is important to note that not every business can benefit from an ERP system. This is why we will proceed to explain the context in which ERP works well, and give you a few tips on how to choose the best ERP system for your business.
Smaller companies are using ERP more and more
Even though early ERP systems were focused on big companies, smaller companies have been using ERP softwares more and more. With greater access to services in the cloud, ERP system got cheaper and simpler. Also, up until the 90's, ERP systems only managed basic functions of a business, and today their role is much broader. Newer ERP systems (ERP II) are more flexible, they have left the corporate frame and are used to manage chains of supply (SCM), customer relations (CRM), and for business intelligence (BI) as well.
Since 2013 we have been using so-called postmodern ERP systems. The third generation has expanded the nucleus of ERP with additional software solutions, and the main benefits ERP III provides to companies are speed and flexibility when reacting to unexpected changes in business processes or on the organization level. ERP now covers more areas: financial and managing accounting (calculation, financial statement and cost management, debt collection and more), human resources (employee recruiting and training, salaries and benefits, retirements...), production (during work management, quality control, production processes, product life cycle management...), order processing (orders, availability, shipping, placing products on the market...), chain of supply management (supplier planning, debt collection processing, storage...), project management (resource planning, costs of projects, activity management), customer relation management (sales and marketing, contact with customers, customer service call center) and, finally, data services management (all kinds of self-service customer, supplier and/or employee interfaces).
As you can see, there are so many business functions that can be a part of ERP system. It should be noted that a rule about which business functions should be a part of the ERP system of your business doesn't exist, but every company should define its own ERP strategy based on internal and external needs, operations and processes of the company. This is where we get to advice on how to choose an ERP system suitable for your business.
Advice on how to choose the best ERP system for your business
The third generation of ERP systems focuses on so-called custom solutions. This means that you don't need ERP for all the above mentioned challenges because your business might not require it.
No matter the specifications of ERP system you want to choose, the system should be intuitive, user friendly and efficient. This kind of up-to-date ERP systems can also most often be accessed through mobile apps, and other ways of using, except for local use, are cloud use and SaaS (Software as a service). SaaS is a software licensed on a subscription basis located on a central location (for example, on a service provider server). This kind of monthly subscription allows smaller and medium large companies to use advanced and for them often expensive ERP systems they couldn't afford if they had to pay for the system in one payment.
Also, let us repeat ourselves, it is the flexibility of the ERP system that has proven to be one of its most crucial advantages. Nowadays, most ERP systems on the market are of similar quality, but the best ones offer flexibility of configuration. This means there is no available solution that will work for all businesses, but the ERP system you choose for your business should be able to adjust to it.
Another important quality of a good ERP system is integration. Your ERP has to completely integrate other softwares and applications you have already been using in your company.
Lastly, it is necessary to ʺexamineʺ the potency of future growth and development of an ERP system. Do some research and evaluate the technological upgrade possibilities of the product you are trying to get for your business because technology today advances increasingly quickly, and we believe that you want to find a solution that can keep track of your business for the next few years.
Finally, if you are still not sure which apps you need for your ERP, we advise you to set up a meeting with the representative of the company offering an ERP and invite them to your company, so he can assess the existing conditions in the company and give you a suggestion on how to optimize your business processes.
You can also contact us for an evaluation. D-software is a business focused on the development and implementation of an innovative software – Dimension Management System, unique for combining ERP, WMS and CRM in one system. If you are looking for a safe and cutting-edge solution for your business, you came to the right place.
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