Do you take a long time to reconcile financials at the end of the month? Don't you have any idea regarding the inventory in your warehouse? Are your customers not satisfied? Your sales forecast is just guesswork and not based on actual figures? Do you feel a lack of collaboration between departments?
YES…Then it's time for you to consider an ERP system for your business. Let’s go through some of the indicators that say you need an ERP.
#1 So much different Software for different processes
Running separate finance, sales, and marketing systems, it’ll take a long time and effort to keep your data up to date. When various front- and back-end systems run separately, it can create a mess on the processes that are meant to ensure your company is running efficiently. Without accurate data from sales, inventory management may suffer, while not having the latest information from accounting can initiate a ripple effect on everything from marketing budgets to payroll.
ERP software integrates these systems so that every business function relies on a single database.
#2 No easy access to the information about your business
With all these different software, it is almost impossible to get any real insights about your business. If the managers have to know the average time from initial contact to payment, can be hard to track when the data sits partly in your CRM system and partly in your finance software.
By using an ERP system, all data is integrated, allowing managers to track inefficiencies and improve processes to remain competitive.
#3 Lack of collaboration between departments
Departments need to share information each other if your company has to perform at its best. Different teams will be handling various information. This means you either need to run reports to share information or people simply don’t have the information they need to make informed decisions. A single system lets everyone access the data they need while keeping confidential information safe with tiered permissions.
#4 Poor customer relationship management
One of the biggest challenges every company faces is inventory management. When sales, inventory and customer data are maintained separately, it can create serious problems across your company. If you run out of a popular product and if a customer calls to inquire about an order and employees can't track it to see if it's been shipped or if it's even in stock your company will start to develop a poor reputation for trustworthiness and service. Customer facing reps should be able to answer customer’s questions about order and shipping status, payment status, service issues, etc., without having to hang up the phone and check with another department. Better yet, customers should be able to simply go online to their account and view status information. Meanwhile, the warehouse manager can see that stock is getting low and can reorder.
#5 If your IT is too complex and time-consuming
IT management is another hectic task if you have multiple systems across your business. Customizing these systems, integrating them and maintaining them with patches and upgrades can be complex, costly and time-consuming. You may need to upgrade the system. But what happens is when you are updating the system, not only it is expensive, but also undo customizations implemented by IT person. And no surprise that many of the companies are running outdated versions of their business software.
An ERP solves all these issues.
#6 If you are not getting the reports you need in a timely fashion and decision-making is not correct.
You may not get the right report from all the different departments at the right time. And so you may not be able to make a right decision at the right time. All these can affect your business in a very bad way.
All these kind of hectic tasks are smoothly done with the help of an ERP.
So rather than working on the system, start using the system.
#7 Disorganized administration
Across departments, you come around common issues like missing details, unorganized data, important actionable tasks being overlooked and resources not being managed properly. This is because there is no standard workflow across departments and each employee has his/her own way of accomplishing a task. An ERP solution helps you overcome these glitches by putting in place a standard process that your employees can adhere to. This increases their productivity and allows them to do more in less amount of time.
#8 Not able to access business information from the different place
These days in a business you should have the information accessible anytime, anywhere, if you need to stay ahead of the competition. An ERP software helps you manage your business from anywhere, anytime. All you need is a computer or a mobile device with internet connection.
Having an ERP system is not a choice these days, and neither is it a luxury that only big companies can or should have. In the present competitive environment, the technology needs of small and big organizations are more or less the same. Consult our ERP specialists today and get out of all the mess in your business.
Switching to an integrated ERP system is a big step for many businesses but it’s also a sign of success.