Even in the early days of running a business, you must delegate some work to promote business growth. It’s the only way you can keep your eye on the essentials and not end up overwhelmed by the details. Of course, the bigger your business gets, the more challenging that becomes.
The people you delegate to must, in turn, delegate. Information gets spread out more and more, yet also becomes more isolated. That makes managing daily activities more challenging.
That’s where an enterprise resource planning system comes into the picture. Asking yourself, “What is an enterprise resource planning ERP system?” Keep reading for our quick guide.
What is an Enterprise Resource Planning ERP System?
An enterprise resource planning system is a software package that helps you monitor and adjust daily activities. Some common areas that an enterprise resource planning system keep track of include:
- Accounting
- Supply chain
- Risk management
- Compliance
- HR
- Project management
In essence, the system gathers data from all of your key business areas and consolidates them into one place.
Benefits of Enterprise Resource Planning
An ERP system offers you a number of key benefits. One of the biggest benefits is that the system gives you immediate access to information from across the business in one place. You can monitor performance from a lone dashboard instead of trying to run down numbers from busy subordinates.
ERP typically improves efficiency and helps streamline operations. It lets you react faster to problems by alerting to you them sooner.
You often see better adoption of software systems across the business courtesy of a consistent user experience. There are fewer problems with data inconsistency because all data flows through the same system.
A good enterprise resource planning system will also include tools for enterprise performance management. These tools help you analyze historical performance and needs. You can use that information to develop budgets, predict upticks in material needs, and generate financial reports and projections.
Implementing ERP
As enterprise resource planning systems affect the entire organization, implementing a new ERP system isn’t something you can do on a whim. You must do research on the available systems and look for an enterprise resource planning guide.
Minimally, you should use change management best practices. Get buy-in from the key stakeholders. Communicate openly about the new system and why you’re adopting it.
Reassure your employees that the system isn’t a prelude to major layoffs.
If you’re not confident about managing the implementation process, you can find consultants who will you with the implementation. For more on that, have a look here.
ERP and Your Business
With the what is an enterprise resource planning ERP system out of the way, you must determine if it’s a good fit for your business. While you can’t just assign employing a number of employees or reaching an amount of revenue as the right time, there are some signs.
If you’re losing track of data, struggling to integrate software systems, or your old software can’t keep up, you probably need an ERP system in place.
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