It’s incredible how many business still allow their departments to use isolated software that records data, but is not linked to a core system. This makes communication very cumbersome and hinders corporate management from easy accessing the information to be able to make quick, precise strategic decisions. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is software that links all departments to enable efficient data and knowledge to flow between them and standardizes processes across the business to increase efficiency.

Improved decision making

Whether you’re the CEO of an organization or simply the head of a department, you need data and information to base your decisions on. Traditional software often requires repetitive data entry, which becomes very susceptible to human error when the monotonous task eventually leads to inaccurate data recording. Making business decisions on inaccurate data can have significant implications for the future. For example, if the CEO is making strategic decisions based on incorrect data, then resources could be allocated poorly and growth opportunities might not be fully exploited. ERP software solves this by making the process pain free, storing all of the data in one place to provide easy access when required to inform decision making.

Meet your customers’ needs

Your business exists to meet your customer’s needs and this is every employees sole aim, irrespective of the department they work within. However, without a shared database, different departments cannot share data freely and information flow is slow and inefficient. ERP software can standardise data recording processes across your whole organisation and improve the flow of information. As a consequence, this allows departments to collaborate and improve your value offering. The customer service department may play a significant role in your organisation, but it’s effectiveness is significantly reduced if it can’t pass on knowledge to the rest of the organisation in order to further improve your product/service. Likewise, sales teams are far less effective without the detailed information that the customer service department has regarding the business’ existing relationship with the customers. Improved flow of information allows your organisation to get closer to your customer to better understand and meet their needs.

Better efficiency

By encouraging every business unit to use ERP software, it completely standardises the process throughout the whole organisation. This means that employees only need to use one software program to record data, providing a common user experience for every employee and eradicating the need for many department specific processes. Naturally, this makes recording data a lot quicker and therefore more cost-effective, whilst increasing the accuracy of the data. All of the information is then stored on one server that anyone across the business can access. This is ideal, compared to having the information from different systems and spreadsheets, taking a significant amount of time to extract and integrate. When information is easier to obtain, employees in leadership positions instantly have access to live, realtime data to make business decisions with. Ultimately, ERP significantly reduces the time spent collecting data makes the organisation far more efficient and agile.

Effective reporting

With all data saved to one single source, it gives corporate management the ability to access incredibly accurate weekly reports. This grants the ability to quickly recognise trends that present an opportunity or poses a real threat to the organisation. For example, if sales in a particular product are rising steadily across a continent, then leadership can decide if they should allocate more resources to further exploit growth opportunities. If overheads are slowly creeping up in a particular subsidiary, then this can be identified earlier to prevent any profitability issues. The true value in ERP software is found in the impressive in-depth detail in can provide of a business, no matter the size.