Want to know if your small business is ready for an ERP system? Watch this quick video or read our blog below.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is possibly the most popular enterprise management software in the business world. Every company has a multitude of processes within it that help with operations and the day-to-day running of the enterprise. These include, but are not limited to: HR, CRM, Supply Chain Management and Inventory Management. While these processes can be managed individually using a group of disparate software, it can be done much easier with ERP software. ERP software like IFS ERP essentially helps business leaders like you make their ventures more efficient by integrating and automating a large chunk of your functions into one system. The typical automation of a bunch of repetitive tasks helps employees focus on higher value tasks and a shared dashboard encourages sharing of information between departments resulting in better decision making at every step.
The Challenges of Growing a Small Business
In the begining most SMEs make do with Excel sheets and manual data entry. This works until you really start growing. As your company starts to grow, you realize how complex managing issues and assets can get. Here are a few examples of the challenges a growing business might face:
1) Opening multiple locations of the business internationally which require compliance with different laws and regulations.
2) Managing a growing list of sales channels and supply chain logistics.
3) Taking over or partnering with a different business that uses a system different from yours.
4) As your employee count grows, it becomes increasingly more difficult to keep track of their productivity or progress.
5) As your customer base grows, it becomes increasingly more difficult to provide the customer satisfaction they want without your employees having sufficient information on them, when they need it.
The Benefits of Implementing an ERP Software on a Growing SME
ERP software can be used to negate all the challenges listed above if done right. Here are a few of the benefits that SMEs can realize with an ERP.
1) Increase in visibility and transparency: Taking a detour from the complexity of different departments accessing different sources of data and then manually collaborating with different systems, an integrated ERP system like IFS helps all departments access data from a unified dashboard.
2) Faster decision making: Instead of deliberating with discrepant data, accessing real-time data from a robust ERP software enables faster decision making which means you do not lose out to competitors in time-to-market or logistics.
3) Productivity boost: Is it any surprise that your employees will be more productive if they have the data to do so?
4) Reduction of operating costs: You do no longer have to maintain separate expensive systems that often will not migrate data to other systems. With an ERP like IFS, streamlined processes and unified sources of information help cut down excess costs.
Questions to Ask to Know if You Really Need an ERP
Answering the following questions might help you decide if you need an ERP of not:
- Do you have enough visibility into the processes of your company?
- Can you consolidate data into one source?
- Is there a connection between your back office and customer facing teams?
- Can your teams readily collaborate and exchange data and ideas?
- Is your supply chain or inventory management as efficient as it could be?
- Can you comply with the rules and regulations of multiple international locations?
If your answer is ‘No’ to any or all of the questions mentioned above, you might be in need of an ERP system. Investing in an ERP solution is one of the biggest expenses your company will incur. Why not make the best choice?
IFS Applications, built on a modular, component-based architecture, provides a robust, functionality rich and flexible ERP application that will be able to grow with your small business. It is not just us saying that. IFS ERP is considered a “leader” by the Gartner MQ every year.
ProV is an award-winning partner for IFS products and services. We offer some of the best IFS Applications pricing and provide best-in-class services for IFS implementations, IFS software support, and IFS customizations. To learn how we use IFS Applications to streamline ERP for businesses like yours, visit our Resource Library. To get started on your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) journey, request our FREE Consultation today.
