Benefits of ERP software for enterprise businesses

Enterprise resource planning, also known as ERP, is a business management software tool which helps you to integrate and automate business processes. Everything from sales, finance, supply chain, manufacturing, human resource, and more.

                                                                                                                          Its ability to tie multiple business processes together and promote the flow of data between them helps you to reduce redundancies, increase efficiency and in turn profitability. This technology is not exclusive to large organisations, any business including small and medium enterprises can benefit from ERP. Explore six tips for small business owners on how to use ERP software

Common issues your business may be experiencing and how ERP could help you solve them

1. Failure to plan  

Planning is a crucial part of any business, whether starting up or well established. Lack of planning often when you’re focused on speed could result in shortages or delays of materials, cash flow issues, low productivity, and a high turnover rate. 
 
An ERP system is a wise investment for start-ups or any size of business that is struggling with planning. It gives you access to accurate historical and live data allowing you to see patterns and forecasts, so you can plan better and make critical business decisions.                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

2. Time management

One of the ways a business can lose time is by doing lots of repetitive manual work. Failure to automate could put your business at risk of human error and redundancy, negatively impacting your productivity and profitability. 
 
ERP software helps business owners maximise time by automating manual processes. Automating business processes such as customer service, inventory management, data entry, sales orders, etc., can help you to improve accuracy, allowing your teams to achieve faster and better outcomes. The ability to schedule and forecast how long it takes for a machine to complete a task also helps you to manage equipment times more efficiently. 

3. Money management 

 Having money tied up in excess stock or overdue invoices can cause cash flow issues for your business. However, this can be managed more effectively with an ERP system. With forecasting and reporting features you can determine optimal inventory levels so that you only have enough stock to meet customer demand. This helps you avoid excess inventory situations, freeing up your cash for other uses. Additionally, by having CRM, finance, and shipping all connected enables you to issue invoices on shipment and monitor when they are due to be paid. You can also monitor overdue invoices, returns, refunds and more.

4. Acquiring and retaining customers 

 Customer satisfaction plays a significant role in attracting and retaining customers. ERP helps improve customer service by matching supply with demand. By linking your ecommerce website to your ERP platform, you'll always know how much inventory is in stock and have ample lead time to plan and order more, thus ensuring that all products are in stock aligned with demand. 
 
Integrating your CRM tool with your ERP system allows everyone to see customers' questions, queries and complaints so that they can respond promptly as well as assess historical information. Combining this with automated emails to keep customers informed of their orders, can help you to achieve a better customer experience. 

 5. Recruitment and retention of employees 

 The onboarding stage is one of your opportunities to make a good impression on your new employees. Making this process smooth and pleasant can help establish loyalty and improve employee confidence. So, how can ERP help you retain employees? 
 
The HR hub within an ERP system allows you to store all employee information, from skills and training to goal setting. Everyone will be on the same page with respect to how much a new starter knows and how far along they are before tasks are assigned. Skill gaps can also be identified easily, and targeted employee campaigns are devised quickly.  

6. Resistance to change 

 Fear of change can hold your business back from achieving its full potential. Just because something is working or it's always been done that way in the past, doesn't mean it is the most efficient and beneficial way to do things now. Taking the time to do a process review to see what can be improved is a start, and starting with a tailored demonstration of an ERP solution might help to get things moving along. 
 
Next steps 
 
Running a business can be challenging, so getting all the help you can to make it run as smoothly and efficiently as possible is worth some thought. With an ERP system, you have full transparency throughout your business, giving you the ability to see everything at any time in one complete solution. The sooner you can get a system like this in place, a system which can grow with you and help guide your decision-making over the long term, the more efficient and productive you will become.  

Get in touch with the team today to learn more about manufacturing ERP software.