Things are going well, but there is still room for improvement. Progress is frustrating at times and end-of-month financials often offer some shocks. You are being overwhelmed with spreadsheet files, manual processes and inventory keeps going unaccounted for. These kind of issues tend to creep in as your business grows, and they can become costly.
If your business is growing and you’re struggling to keep up, it might be time to give some serious thought to implementing ERP software. Below, we’ve compiled the top ten signs your business might need an ERP system.
1. Non-integrated Systems Are Holding You Back
Systems that don’t communicate information to one another leave your staff with lots of heavy lifting to do. Time and money are spent on managing multiple databases and consolidating data. With a single, integrated ERP system, your expertise will be instantly shared throughout the company. Everyone will have access to a single source of truth, boosting productivity and removing data silos that have been holding you back.
2. Product Costing Has Been Inaccurate
Manufacturing is complex so it can be difficult to know the true cost of each product. With more extensive tracking in your plant, you can gain a stronger understanding of true costs, enabling you to estimate and plan accordingly. Track things like time at each station, material costs and more with an ERP so that your whole team can see the big picture. This way, product costing will be more on the mark.
3. Regular Issues With Production Scheduling
There is a direct link between product scheduling and profitability. You want to get maximum value for money on the shop floor, and misalignments in project routing and machine time allocation are a barrier to this. With an ERP, you will have crucial planning tools fuelled by real-time supply and demand data along with forecasts. Data can direct your scheduling for smoother, more efficient processes.
4. Inventory Inaccuracies
When inventory isn’t accurate, problems arise like lost storage space, reduced cash flow and damage to long-held items. Holding too little inventory is equally problematic, halting production for indefinite periods and impacting the timely delivery of projects. In either case, customer satisfaction is impacted and your profitability will take a hit. If tracking inventory is a problem, an ERP system can be really helpful in expanding your MRP capabilities.
5. Communication Silos
If your departments become increasingly siloed, everything becomes disjointed and clunky. Broken communication from one department to the next can create a disturbance in the operational workflow. This leads to errors in the transfer of data and more. An ERP centralises everything from accessibility to communication, both within your company and between you and your suppliers and customers. Everything becomes seamless and silos become a thing of the past.
6. Unsatisfied Customers
The modern customer has very high expectations and lots of alternatives to turn to. Unsatisfied customers are unlikely to come back, and you really don’t want to lose out on established relationships. ERP systems provide data both for you and your customers, so it becomes easier to communicate information and build relationships. Your ERP will also give you greater control over things like inventory and supply chain so that the types of things that lead to customer complaints are less likely to happen in the first place.
7. Too Many Manual Processes
Your software should align seamlessly with your business processes. Excel is a powerful tool, but it is not a comprehensive system for running a business. With the right ERP in place, you can automate many tasks like capturing data, managing orders and payments and even creating reports and financial documents. This can boost accuracy and free up your and your employees’ time to focus on business-critical work.
8. Stunted Growth
Businesses want maximum efficiency for internal business processes and they want minimal labour costs and IT expenses. This is a strong foundation for growth, so if your growth is stunted then you may not have reached your equilibrium yet. An ERP system will organise and optimise production whilst providing the framework of information required for scaling up. If you plan for continued growth, you need a system that provides scalability, and ERP software is primed for this.
9. Challenges Keeping Up With Compliance and Regulations
‘Manual reporting’ is not an exciting prospect for anyone. It is tedious, time-consuming and largely automatable. With modern ERP systems, there are tools for accurate data capture that can be easily transformed into reports for compliance requirements in virtually any industry. Remove this tiresome manual task and let automation take care of it so that resources are freed up to focus on work that brings greater value.
10. Difficulty Obtaining Meaningful Data
If you’re not able to visualise the path that leads you to where you are, or even map where you’re at now, how can you prepare for the future? Feeling unable to do this with any uncertainty may be a sign that you lack meaningful data. Modern ERP systems, even for small-medium businesses, offer powerful BU (business intelligence) capabilities. This is about defining and tracking KPIs based on high-integrity data, putting critical information in the hands of decision-makers at all times.
Conclusion
If any of the above rings true for you, an ERP system should at least be on your radar. It doesn’t take a great deal of work to investigate how ERP software could benefit your business. A single phone call to an ERP Consultant could give you the answers to the most fundamental questions. Most ERP vendors also offer free trials and demos, where you can see for yourself what the software could do for your business.
If you are considering ERP software for your business, here are some other articles you might find useful;
- What is ERP software?
- Top Benefits of an ERP System
- ERP Implementation Steps
- Building an ERP Implementation Team
- The ERP Selection Process Explained
- Top 10 Tips for a Successful ERP Project
- Cloud ERP vs On-Premise ERP
- 10 Reasons to Embrace Cloud ERP
Why choose Eventura as your ERP implementation partner?
Eventura has been providing robust business solutions to countless organizations for over two decades. We are ERP experts and can identify all of your business needs, and deliver a comprehensive ERP solution that works for you.
As Sage 200 Partners and NetSuite Solution Providers, we can help you identify which solution will fit your business needs the best. Our expert team of business analysts, developers, consultants, technicians and support staff can guide you through your entire project, from initial scoping through to implementation and on-going support.
We’re also managed IT service providers meaning we can help you identify your entire IT infrastructure requirements from day one. If you would like to speak to one of our ERP experts to discuss your options or request a free demo, you can request a free call back here.
