Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software can unlock an array of fabulous benefits for businesses. It can drive efficiencies and innovation, reduce costs and help organisations stand head and shoulders above the competition.
Yet when ERP software is poorly integrated, improperly understood or simply getting out of date, it can also seriously hold organisations back.
Here are some of the key signs that your ERP is holding your business back.
Rising costs
Are your ERP’s operational, maintenance or training fees growing? The more they rise, the harder it is to predict and control your IT budget. The more complex your system becomes, the greater all of those associated costs become too. It might be time to streamline and simplify.
Manual processes
ERP systems are meant to increase automation and therefore improve efficiency across your organisation. If you are still manually entering data into your ERP system from other reports or databases, then its ability to drive such efficiencies is severely curtailed. Your ERP system must be able to automatically populate the data from other devices and systems.
Mobility
Mobility has never been more important for organisations across myriad different industries. Your staff need to be able to access key systems and data on the go, from multiple different devices – and the same goes for your ERP system. Your ERP needs to be smartphone-compatible, with an app which allows you to see data in real-time, from any device.
Timeliness
Indeed, real-time data access is an issue beyond mere mobility. If your ERP system does not allow you immediate, real-time access to information, then the risk of error increases substantially. You cannot see what is happening in your organisation at any particular time – which means you are far less likely to identify errors and problems at a stage when they can be easily fixed.
Scalability
An ERP system is meant to support and power your business’s growth, not restrict it. Whether your plans for expansion involve global growth or something more modest, your ERP system needs to be able to handle the new capacity you have planned, as well as the challenges of operating seamlessly across international borders and language barriers, if relevant.
Customer experience
‘The customer is always right’ might be a hackneyed phrase, but it speaks a truth for all businesses – if you are unable to meet your customers’ needs and keep them happy, then business failure is not far behind. If your ERP system is preventing you from delivering a high-quality customer experience – perhaps because your customer service agents cannot access the information they need, when they need it – then the time has come to look for an improved approach to ERP.
Flexibility
By this, we mean the ability to tailor and configure your ERP system to meet your needs, rather than tailoring and configuring your operations to meet the limitations of your ERP system.
Indeed, a lack of flexibility is the core problem at the heart of any scenario where an ERP system as holding a business back. Operations are being led by the ERP, not by the business’s goals, objectives and strategy.
If this is where you are with your ERP system, get in touch with us. We can take you to a place where your ERP drives your business forward, rather than holding it back.
Time for a change? Signs your ERP is holding your business back