5 Compelling Reasons Why You Need ERP Systems

Many small to medium enterprise managers wonder whether they need to employ ERP systems as a way to ensure better management of business aims and day-to-day processes. In general if its taking much longer to reconcile financial issues each month, your sales forecasts are guesswork, order volumes are not being adequately met and customers are unsatisfied, you may be the prime candidate for an ERP system.

Similarly if you have no systems to manage available inventory, it may be time to make the change to an ERP based system.

You Use Multiple Software Systems

Over time companies use and employ a variety of software systems for various in-house, office and production floor processes. Initially these systems seem like efficient ways to manage and increase the productivity of your manufacturing concern, but over time they may prove to complicate matters, especially if they operate separately and there is no comprehensive inventory, financial or shipping picture.

If orders, accounts, shipping and receiving all use different systems your processes will be disjointed. ERP systems link sales, orders, inventory and accounts systems, enabling one complete picture of your business performance.

No Access to Business Information at a Glance

Do your current software systems provide easy access to your companies sales, orders, inventory, accounts, shipping and receiving information? If you run several systems you will most likely receive several separate monthly reports for each section of your manufacturing concern. Not knowing your sales margins or needing to conduct complex calculations to determine figures for your investors is a definite sign that your business may benefit from the combined, streamlined approach of ERP systems, which link your front-office, production floor, orders, inventory, deliveries and financial information into a single system that can provide the information you need at a glance.

Accounting is Time Consuming and Difficult

If your accounting system is complex and time consuming you may need to simplify your systems. Your accounting department may be the first to note a need for an ERP system to more effectively manage your financial information. If your business relies on paper orders and invoices and uses manual methods to enter information you may save a considerable amount of time and money by switching to an ERP system. If you use numerous spreadsheets to collate your accounts information, you will be able to quickly and effectively consolidate them using an ERP system.

Customer Satisfaction is Low and Sales are Reduced

Your customers may be the first to notice a disjointed management system. When a company starts growing, inventory systems may be the first to be impacted. Having the products you need in the right place at the right time is integral to the success of any business. If customer information, inventory and sales data are all maintained in separate software systems, then the management of your orders will eventually be seriously impacted. Being able to track orders and shipping from raw materials to delivery is integral to customer satisfaction. Not knowing what items you have in stock is evidence of a poorly managed manufacturing concern.

Time Consuming and Complex IT Systems

If you make use of multiple software systems to manage your business you will eventually notice that IT management starts to consume a lot of your time and staff resources. Not only do you need to customise your systems, but integration and fixing or maintaining them with the relevant upgrades becomes time and resource consuming. Opting for ERP software can avoid needing to add additional systems to a system which is already unstable and using far too many resources.