ERP Software

The complete guide to investing in ERP software

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a phrase that has been big in the business world since the late 20th century. As the world moved through the 90s and into the 00s towards an internet age. The modern ERP became the next big thing that businesses wanted to adopt. As the product evolved and began to cater for the likes of SME’s, multiple variations of the solution appeared on the market. Thereby raising the question ‘Which ERP software is right for my business?”

With its diverse capabilities in today’s ERP buying market, multiple teams have become responsible for organising its implementation into their business. In particular, the chief executive officer (CEO), chief operating officer (COO), chief financial officer (CFO), sales and marketing manager. And even the warehouse manager is taking the lead in choosing an appropriate provider.

While one report shared that ERP software helped around 95% of businesses, it’s not a decision to be taken lightly. Implementing software is the right course of action for most, but choosing an ERP provider isn’t as black and white as it may seem.

Whichever solution works for your biggest competitor won’t necessarily work for your business. Dependent on your needs, ERP might not even be the answer to truly streamlining your processes. The businesses that follow the lead of others often end up with a piece of software that isn’t fit for purpose. In turn, this leads to businesses creating disjointed processes in order to meet their needs.

It’s surprising how many teams are still using Excel to manage some of their disconnected processes. And how easily things can go wrong when heavily relying on it. In 2020, Public Health England lost nearly 16,000 cases of coronavirus because of the rows limitation in Excel2. Regardless of the industry in which you operate, the smooth running of your day-to-day work is the true answer to business success, and a well-suited ERP is what’s going to deliver that.

Speed up sales and improve efficiency

A recent survey found that 65% of sales professionals feel they lack time and suitable resource when performing their job. This can lead to a number of complications in the department. With a lack of resource to store sales information, most of it ends up being stored in inboxes and personal documents, creating a business continuity problem when a team member takes an unforeseen absence. Not having the data to understand customers can quickly lead to missed opportunities in upselling and cross-selling. In the worst case, create a bad rapport when their customers don’t receive the response they were looking for.

What’s more, research from Hubspot found that more sales professionals are spending up to 60 minutes a day on data entry. So, even if the business has a shared platform to input the sales information, rekeying the data is time-consuming and subject to human error. Unfortunately, this could also mean that customer price lists aren’t correct, either, and one typo could be the difference between making a sale and missing out. Then there’s the case of what sales professionals have to work from. Lack of real-time visibility of stock from outdated or non-existent systems will cause sales teams to over-or undersell.

Plus, a lack of communication between teams will mean that customers are approached by different departments in the business. A study found that 43% of sales and marketing teams lack accurate data on target accounts and prospects. Resulting in a serious misalignment between teams that can incur damage to business reputation. In fact, other research found that 67% of businesses are better at closing deals when sales and marketing work together.

Communication is key

Now it’s understood how each department operates individually, it’s equally important to put them together to view the bigger picture. Running a business with no software in place can easily cause a domino effect of problems that end up being seen at the top of the business. Putting increasing pressure on management, right down to the line pickers. A lack of communication across departments, lack of clarity on stock and performance all contributes to continuously decreasing satisfaction, both internally and externally.

ERP software is the answer for the CEO, COO, CFO, sales and marketing manager, and warehouse manager. But their approach to choosing the software is what’s most important. By ensuring each candidate chooses a solution that relieves daily stressors, meets departmental requirements and will stand the test of time; it’s looking to be a very prosperous future for their business.