Firstly, if you have found your way to this page, you probably already know and understand what ERP is and what it can do for you as a business leader. For anyone who is still unsure, perhaps a quick recap is in order before we progress.
ERP stands for enterprise resource planning (see ERP solutions for more direct information). If you lead an organization (or ‘enterprise’), and if you rely on resources to keep your company afloat (which includes every business ever, because even if you only rely on a website and an online payment system, those are resources), then you might want to look into how to plan and deploy those resources for a better return on your ROI.
Therefore, ERP covers, well, everything. Absolutely every aspect of your company is a resource, and each of those resources can be planned, monitored, and improved. Take your finance systems. The monitoring of your inventory. Your customer service. They are all resources that ERP can report on.
ERP for all business types
If you are in the yacht business, you are likely going to benefit from ERP software that can report on statistics that differ significantly from the kinds of facts and figures you would expect to be generated by software looking at the operational aspects of a pension company.
But strictly speaking, that isn’t necessarily the case. All businesses sell products or services. All businesses have inventory. All businesses make money. All businesses have staff. Even a one-person band playing the guitar with their hands and stamping their foot on a drum is offering a service for a price, with the inventory being the person, the guitar, and the drum.
Here’s how ERP can help all businesses:
Understand your starting point
ERP opens the floodgates to you understanding your business from the ground up. When you map out and pay attention to what you spend, where you spend it, the time scales involved, and how the overall execution of your business plan comes together, the insights can be hugely valuable.
Ensure organisational cohesion
If you lead a large company, ERP can ensure that processes and procedures are standardised across your brand. This is an often-overlooked value of deploying ERP. You can boost output simply by standardising the cross channel systems your staff use to work with one another.
Report on ROI
Are your business dealings returning the kinds of revenue streams that you were expecting? How are your weekly figures? What about monthly or quarterly reports? Could things be better? ERP software allows you to monitor and assess your ROI at every stage of the production cycle, giving you the data you need to make big decisions.
Develop an improved business model based on data-driven projections
Your business model is not etched in stone. It is a statement you wrote before things changed. Just like some older laws written with a quill may not be suitable for modern-day living, your business model must be adaptable to meet market expectations. ERP software can empower those changes.
