ERP: More than a Sales Solution
In this globalized world, ERP is no longer just a competitive advantage. It is an important requirement for every enterprise. Many specialists argue that ERP is completely necessary to deal with businesses in every corner of the market. This is because ERP does not work in only one way, but it gets to focus on all the relevant aspects that directors need to take into account when they are facing important decisions.
Different Functions Covered in this Area
One of the most relevant aspects of this system is related to sales. Nowadays vendors need to be able to give quick responses to client requirements and be extremely flexible. As a result they find tools useful that include the possibility of generating quotes specifying every product that clients may require. It also gives you access to price lists, client information, special offers, orders, invoices, and many other functions related to this matter.
By this way, vendors can generate orders and send it to the rest of people involved in this process in a matter of seconds, saving time and money by avoiding unnecessary paperwork. All the employees have access to the same information, reducing the chance of making mistakes in the middle.
ERP converts your sales employees from a strictly programmed selling machine into a multiple task developer. They are going to ask themselves questions that they had never asked before like: how much stock of this product are we handling at this moment? How long will it take to deliver the order? Is this client delaying payments? Is there any chance to offer a discount? Could I offer him a different product to suffice if his needs are necessary? Answers are not easy, at least at the beginning, and it takes a little time to learn how to manage this information in order to arrive at the best decision, but during this process you can offer the best service to your clients through an exceptional experience where every aspect is organized and detailed.
The Inventory function is very important to mention, because it is able to organize your stock levels, preventing supplier inconveniences by checking historical data. Employees in charge of inventory will have to forget about writing quantities and other information in paper sheets, or just keeping it in mind. They will have to enter the whole data into the system, helping you to be prepared for the moment in which one of the employees is not available for any reason, giving you the chance to replace him quickly and efficiently.
Implementing ERP
A good way to start the implementation is to deal with the people in charge of handling stocks. They are the first ones to know when a product is not going to be available, and when there is going to be plenty of another one. In this way ERP is able to guide your vendors in order to reduce unnecessary stocks by offering the product that might be exceeding reasonable inventory, and in the other way they can help you to reduce the time of wait for your clients, keeping them satisfied.
Invoicing and delivery process are accelerated by just pushing two or three buttons. When an order is entered all the information is available for vendors to deal with clients at the same time that they are dealing with stocks, prices and possibilities of discount. This information arrives correctly and in a complete way to the rest of the employees speeding up posterior work.
Furthermore, you can see the status of an order at any moment in time almost immediately, helping you to give fast and precise information to various client questions. What ERP brings to your enterprise is a kind of magic that simplifies daily tasks, and not so daily ones. It keeps your employees informed about what they need to know to increase their efficiency levels, and it also gives you the chance to control anybody at anytime.
Differences with Ordinary Management Software
Some management software that has already been on the market for several years are changing their names dramatically into ERP sounding systems for new business opportunities. Despite these changes, they are still offering the same possibilities that they were two or three years ago. They try to convince clients about the benefits of a “new and improved” software, while the only thing they increase is their prices, and not the functionality of their products.
The main difference refers to the capacity of the system to avoid unnecessary entries of information. An order is entered once and only once, and the same data arrives to accounting departments instantly. There is no need in making a first draft for orders and then the entries to the machine, you can do it all at the same time without duplicating info. It is more dynamic than any simple management software where you may need to do several entrances to complete one task. Employees can evaluate credit possibilities for a sale in real time according to client debt reports, helping you to reduce irrecoverable amounts.
At the same time invoicing employees do not need to check thousands of files to collect the information they find necessary. With a few clicks they can get a client’s name, address, payment policy, place and time where the products have to be delivered, as well as phone numbers and even the credit history, saving time and effort for all members of the organization.
Another important aspect that you will want to consider is the opportunity of making precise financial decisions. This is where profits are made, and you can deal with private directors in a complete and fast manner. The information can make the difference between earning and wasting money. ERP gives you the security of knowing that you are not receiving distorted or duplicated information. It would not be reliable payment reports obtained for a management system that takes into account checks in one side divided by the bank, and cash on the other. You would need to issue several reports and contrast them before making any conclusions. With ERP this does no longer exists: one report can show you any contrast you need.
In addition to this, ERP systems can show you the cash flow immediately, letting you control expenses in general and finding out where your money goes the whole time. This is the key to control for employees in this sector, and it is important for avoiding fraud and unnecessary or unsupervised pay outs.
However, control is not the only function remarkable on ERP. The dynamism is very important too. We live in a fluctuating world, a world that never stops, where strong dynamism and flexibility are required to keep on track every day, and this is exactly what ERP offers to your complete enterprise, level by level.
Adaptability
ERP is capable of adapting to different contexts, and this means there is an appropriate one for every organization, no matter how small or big it is. An ERP specialist can design what best suits your commercial activities by taking into account their kind and volume. For example: many organizations can have their stocks distributed in different kinds of products, and they would appreciate the capacity of separating them in an integral system. Smaller enterprises could have only one kind of product, and for that matter they will need a simpler system.
As this flexibility has no limits, developers can offer you a complete version using ultimate generation technology in agreement with your demands. This is the additional value that ERP provides you, it is not just another expensive software that will become useless in a few years. This is a tool exclusively designed for every situation, and there are no two exact designs in this case. ERP is the future, and it has become essential in the business world because it brings information classified and simplified to those who have to make decisions.
There are several chances to adapt the system to every activity, no matter if your accounting department is very small or large. In case you have a big department, you can control who has access to the different kinds of information. You can measure their needs of information and restrict their permissions according to your criteria. And for that matter you can have online data without other users being able to see it.
As you have seen, it is not only important, but indispensable to have an ERP system adapted to provide accounting functions to you and your employees, and that can solve daily issues and clarify information obtained from various sources. For this matter there are specialists that can evaluate your enterprise’s requirements and find the way to optimize the currency of information and even detect and solve problems related to this matter. Every little change is followed by a period of time for people to adapt, in this case periods are never too long but they are very important. As we have already stated it is the right time to make the decision of adopting ERP, and you and your enterprise will be delighted to see everything you can do.
