An ERP is more than just a new piece of technology. It is a transformative product that enables you to make sweeping changes to the way your enterprise conducts business. Countless companies have discovered that in the wake of implementing an ERP their core business practices evolved for the better. To help illustrate the scope of this evolution, consider these five exciting ways to take advantage of an ERP.
1. Reconfigure Your Staff and Budgets
Fundamentally, an ERP is a tool for giving your company data form, function, and accessibility. Consider how much you currently spend to accomplish this same task. The amount of man hours, IT resources, and budgetary spending can be astronomical, and it’s all in the service of keeping your data from becoming disorganized and dysfunctional. When these same tasks are automated and streamlined, you can redirect those resources elsewhere while getting more from your data overall.
2. Maximize Your Sales and Revenue
Implementing an ERP has an immediate impact on your bottom line. Features designed to optimize the order-to-cash process eliminate inefficiencies, lead to smarter forecasting, and ensure a higher-level of customer service. Plus, by automating some of the most time and labor-intensive aspects of the CRM process, your sales staff is free to focus more on selling.
3. Improve Your Strategic Planning
In the absence of an ERP, strategic planning is an exercise in guess work. No matter how much time and resources you dedicate to the process, the lack of accurate, concentrated data means that uncertainty will rule the day. Since an ERP synthesizes and streamlines data from every one of your departments, you can get the true top-down perspective you need to make effective, impactful decisions about the future of the company.
4. Empower Your Mobile Workforce
Working outside the office is both an opportunity and an obstacle. Your staff can interact with clients anywhere at any time. But they often lack the data and applications to provide the highest level of service possible. A cloud-based ERP allows this data to travel with your team wherever they go. And when changes are made remotely, they are immediately visible to everyone in the home office, eliminating a major source of confusion and conflict.
5. Improve Your Company Culture
This is one of the biggest and most overlooked advantages of an ERP. By breaking down the data silos between departments your team is finally able to work in a truly collaborative way. The kinds of frictions that previously lead to unnecessary competition and petty squabbles disappear. As a result, everyone feels like an equal contributor and stakeholder. In small, subtle, and often imperceptible ways, an ERP contributes directly to a more positive atmosphere company-wide.
There are few additions you can make to your company that have a faster, deeper, and more lasting impact than an ERP. If you are ready to radically transform things for the better, find the right ERP and take advantage of all that it has to offer.
Author: Elaine Valarie
