5 WAYS ERP SYSTEMS SUPPORT BUSINESS GROWTH

Every business wants to achieve growth.  For some, growth happens slowly over long periods of time, but others may experience growth rapidly.  Rapid growth can bring added complexities that manual processes and basic systems can’t handle.  Over time, growth can be detrimental to company health, customer satisfaction, and accuracy as the company struggles to keep up with demand.  However, a robust Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution offers the ability to support both rapid and gradual business growth through its flexibility, scalability, and mobility.

1. ERP Automates And Streamlines Processes Across Departments

When a business grows, they experience higher transaction volume and more sales orders to process, inventory to pick, pack and ship, and customers to manage. The principal function of ERP solutions is to integrate business functions and processes into a unified platform across multiple departments.  Information is stored in a single system, breaking down data silos and eliminating the need for custom integrations between multiple standalone solutions.  This centralization of data streamlines the means of accessing and inputting new data leading to greater efficiency company-wide, freeing up employees to more efficiently handle the increasing demands of a growing business and minimizing the need to hire additional staff.

2. Real-Time Visibility Supports Innovation

For any business, information and data is one of your most valuable assets.  By utilizing ERP software, business data is updated in real-time so that the entire corporation has access to a single, accurate source of truth using intuitive reporting and analytics. The ability to monitor the flow of goods and services within your organization in real time provides the ability to react quickly to order changes, inventory shortages and supply chain bottlenecks, letting you innovate as needed and adapt to rapidly changing industries.

3. Mobility Enhances Collaboration And Productivity

Modern ERP is inherently mobile, taking advantage of advancements in technology like the Cloud, mobile applications, and devices to deliver business data and functionality anywhere, anytime.  This allows employees to work socially, collaborate, access production data, add to knowledge bases, and make updates on the go, leading to increased productivity throughout the organization.

4. Modular Yet Integrated Design

ERP software integrates various processes that are essential to run an enterprise into a single database.  But every business is different.  Not every business will need all of the functionality that modern ERP has available.  For this reason, modern ERP solutions are often modular, yet integrated.  Modular refers to ERP modules that can be individually purchased and added-onto the system based on the specific needs and capabilities of the organization.  This means that businesses can buy what they need, when they need it.

5. Easily Add Advanced Functionality

As businesses grow, it’s inevitable that their processes will change.  The key is to find an ERP solution that will scale with company growth through easily added functionality.  Modern ERP’s modular design allows you to easily add modules with advanced functionality as your business continues to grow and you need them.  Cloud and API technologies allow easy integrations with third-party applications.

Growth is the ultimate goal of any business, but inevitably it comes with risks and challenges.  A modern ERP system can be a tremendous facilitator of growth by maintaining governance and control, providing a high level of business efficiency and consistency, and empowering decision-makers to make speedy decisions backed by data to minimize risk.  Rapid growth does not need to be stressful and overwhelming. All it takes to successfully navigate this kind of change to your company is an ERP system uniquely designed to fit your company’s needs.

Are you ready to set your business up for success with a modern ERP solution? Contact one of our consultants today!