Investing in Enterprise Resource Planning Software

Organizations that are continually growing face multiple challenges, including disparate communication systems, data management difficulties, consistent pivoting in processes, and more. Any growing business’s goal is to reduce these inefficiencies and create streamlined procedures while enhancing productivity across the company.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) can solve the above concerns. Primarily viewed as only beneficial to larger enterprise organizations, ERP systems have significantly impacted smaller, growing businesses in recent years.

What is an ERP system?

An ERP system integrates all different areas of a company into one platform. As a business grows, spreadsheets and multiple files become inefficient. It may also become challenging to keep all members of an organization on the same page — even if your staff size is relatively small. Many companies begin to identify collaboration issues, slowed production, and possibly even duplicated work when they reach this threshold.

An ERP system solves these problems. When implemented correctly, an ERP system has many long-term benefits for companies, including significant cost-saving opportunities through streamlined process creation and increased insight into profitability, including project-specific profitability. Organizations implementing an ERP system will also benefit from the ability to scale their businesses more efficiently while keeping a lean team.

When to consider implementing an ERP system

Systems are outdated and don’t meet current needs

If you’re finding your existing software is frequently creating inefficiencies, lowering productivity, or unable to support your business’s growth and direction, consider implementing an ERP system.

Lack of automation

Even if your internal staff size is relatively small, introducing automation early into key processes will improve internal operations and growth. This includes integrations with other functions in your business. If there is an evident disconnect between multiple systems, you’re placing your company at risk of creating avoidable and likely manual mistakes. Implementing an ERP system can mitigate these errors.

Expected growth

If your organization has seen significant growth or is anticipating growth, an ERP system will help to streamline and support this. The benefits and implementation will look slightly different for each company and will be heavily based on their industry.

For example, in a manufacturing company, growth may require more collaboration and access to real-time data updates to allow the team to make better decisions quicker. In a project-based business, new tasks may

be assigned to more than one team member, including quoting of projects. Implementing an ERP system will allow shared access across all quoting platforms.

Access to information is challenging to obtain or unreliable

The main goal of an ERP system is to give employees easy access to needed info. This includes removing any current procedures that rely on spreadsheets and multiple files. These require frequent manual updates, leading to errors, miscommunication, and inaccurate information, resulting in poor decision-making. Implementing an ERP system will allow teams to collaborate and access data quickly, improving operations and production.

You want to increase security and safety

An ERP system can help improve company security by centralizing all data and information into one secure location. This makes security and data management easier as you can control who has access to the database and their permission level. Additionally, a powerful ERP system can protect organizations from harmful cyber-attacks.

Inaccurate inventory and product costing

Poor inventory management and tracking can affect customer service and retention. An ERP system integrates inventory management across a company, allowing for easy inventory tracking and real-time updating. It will also help manage product costing, giving team members total product costs from raw materials to manufacturing and packaging, enabling better pricing decisions.

Implementing an ERP system requires a significant investment and time to ensure it is appropriately executed; however, if set up correctly, a company will reap its benefits quickly. By improving collaboration, production, and efficiency across all areas of your company, your internal operations will have a solid foundation to navigate any upcoming growth opportunities and better manage your ability to scale.

The team at Part Time CFO has in-depth knowledge and experience helping companies across various industries implement financial processes that help them reduce their administrative burden and increase efficiency. Reach out to us today to learn how we can help you.