Is Your Business Ready for an ERP System?
Making the move to an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is a major milestone in any company, signifying a certain level of success and growth. To ensure your company can continue on that growth and success trajectory, making the move to an ERP is key. Understandably though, making the transition to an ERP can be rife with concern. Before you make a move, it is vital to understand your business needs now and in the future. If you think your business may be ready for an ERP, ask yourself the following questions.
Are your current systems able to connect all departments in all locations?
Are all of your business systems full integrated or do you find that each department is functioning within a silo? What may have worked in the past when your company first started, consisting of only a handful of employees all working out of the same location, may no longer fit the bill. If your business has grown and now you have multiple locations, with multiple systems and limited integration, it becomes increasingly difficult to work effectively as a team. ERP software is designed to help the flow of internal business processes and allow for communication between the various business departments and their internal functions and data.
Are your processes are consistent across the business?
Along with having software systems that are fully integrated, a successful, growing organization needs to have consistent processes across the business. As your organization has grown, it may have accumulated and adopted a wide range of work practices and procedures. Moving to a global set of standards will help your business work more efficiently. An ERP system can support this move and ease the adoption of processes across the business.
Is your staff productive?
Is your staff spending time on manual processes that could (and should) be automated? Do they have to call or email each other to determine stock availability or to track customer orders? Are you missing sales because it takes too long to get an accurate reading on your inventory? ERP systems can increase productivity by automating processes and providing consistent information on orders, sales, and inventory.
Is your staff in synch?
How many times has this happened: sales has sold more stock than you have; sales blames operations for not having enough inventory, and operations blame sales for over-selling and not informing them soon enough. This leads to unhappy customers, lost sales, and frustration among your employees. This type of disconnect is one of the major reason why businesses need an ERP solution.
Are your reports accurate and reliable?
If it is taking consistently more time to check and reconcile the numbers within your business, then it is taking longer to make important business decisions. ERP systems provide real-time insight into the state of your financials so you can make better business decisions faster.
It takes some introspection to determine your company’s readiness for an ERP. However, knowing that your business is ready for an ERP system helps make the investment more palatable, and the transition smoother.
For more information on other advantages of using an ERP, how your company can benefit from this software, to how to choose an ERP system that is right for your business needs, and more, please contact ArcherPoint today for a free phone evaluation.