Everything About Enterprise Resource Planning Software: Part 2

Out of all the iconic characters of Brooklyn 99, we can learn a thing or two from the feisty Sergeant Amy Santiago. Her passion for following rules and her love for organizing everything the correct way is legendary. She can give Monica Geller from “F.R.I.E.N.D.S” a run for the money when it comes to her binders and folders. That being said, let's meet a software equivalent of Amy Santiago, the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software.

In part 1 of our Enterprise Resource Planning series we learn about what an ERP Software is, how it evolved and its importance to a business. We also established the need and use of an ERP for different companies. This article will cover the most common business functions and processes managed and streamlined by an ERP Software along with the benefits and future of ERP Software.

What are you waiting for? Read on!
 

Business Functions An ERP Software Can Help You With

 

 

• ​Finance

  Remember when Phoebe’s bank account (from F.R.I.E.N.D.S, duh!) had accidentally been credited with $500? Miraculously, when she reported this error, her very generous bank awarded her with another $500 and a football phone! (Seriously, what bank was that?) None of this would have happened if her bank had been using an ERP Software to manage their operations - there we said it! Within seconds, the software would have tracked the transactions and reversed the error. The centralized database provided by an ERP Software will manage, record and analyze all financial data for banks or any other organization. Additionally, it can examine the increase or decrease in profits and even help with planning budgets. Hurray!

• Sales & Customer Relationship Management

  As a function of an ERP Software, sales management comes into play for large enterprises such as Amazon and Google. It can help you from pre-sales tasks (such as contacting customers) to post-sale service (such as sending invoices to customers). With an ERP Software you can also track orders, including the dispatch of materials, payments, delivery and more.
  
  Ever wondered why Apple asks you to create an Apple ID as soon as you purchase an Apple device? As most of you might be aware, Apple ID is an account you use to access Apple services like the App Store, Apple Music, iCloud, etc. On the other hand, it also helps Apple track your activity on all their devices and applications which helps Apple provide bespoke recommendations based on what you like. Apple is able to do all this with the help of an ERP Software. Thus, an ERP Software empowers businesses with insights on what customers want, which can be used for effortless targeted marketing and improving the overall customer experience.

• Human Resources (HR)

  A typical day in an HR’s work-life includes managing applications, onboarding new hires, planning trainings for existing employees, looking into administrative issues and even time-management. Keeping track of all this can get overwhelming but an ERP Software helps in automating most of these tasks. From tracking the progress of applications to maintaining a shared database of information for employees an ERP Software handles it all. As a result, the HR team can focus more on creating, strategizing, improving employee engagement and boosting morale instead of getting caught up with grunt work.

• Manufacturing

  Let's visit a hypothetical factory; you see an employee sitting in the corner, counting the products being packed each hour by making tally marks. Zoom out a bit and imagine multiple such factories, each with an employee documenting the production rate. At the end of the day, another employee collects the records from each factory and begins counting the tally marks — exhausted by just imagining the number of redundancies in the process? So were we!

  An ERP Software replaces this tedious process by automating the entire record-keeping process while giving the management real-time information about the output. Apart from daily production monitoring, you can also plan and source materials. You will get a notification about any material that's running low enabling you to quickly make the required arrangements. Additionally, by knowing your production rate, you can predict your monthly or yearly production and make business decisions accordingly.

• Supply Chain Management

  An ERP Software provides insight into a company's supply chain performance by monitoring production, inventory, manufacturing processes, logistics and delivery. A fully automated and streamlined supply chain improves processes by recommending purchase orders, work orders and transfer orders across various locations. The supply chain feature of an ERP Software can also help set inventory objectives and improve the planning and distribution resources. Additionally, real-time data on an organization's supply chain helps find problem areas that help improve inventory management.

With so many business functions taken care of with an ERP Software, businesses end up substantially benefiting from the system.

Benefits Of An ERP Software

There are three key benefits of using an ERP system:
 

• Efficiency And Cost Saving

  With an integrated infrastructure, real-time data and consistent processes, an ERP Software diminishes the chances of human error. Businesses that have already adopted an ERP system can reduce process times and enhance overall collaboration of tasks, which results into higher efficiency and lower costs.

• Centralized Database AKA One Source Of Truth

  When all your data is stored in a central database, you get your answers faster. Why was there a dip in sales? An ERP Software will tell you that less budget was allotted to marketing efforts. Boom, you know what to do next!

• Business Growth With Agility

  Not just centralizing the data, an ERP Software analyzes that data for you. So, with real-time insights and analysis, you get to act faster and improve your performance. That being said, to keep growing continuously, businesses need to evolve and so does the ERP system.

 

What’s Next - The Future Of An ERP Software

Businesses are witnessing a dynamic shift towards IoT (Internet of Things), Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain - the industry's four buzzwords and enterprises are attracted towards them (a lot). Invariably, this shift is trickling down to ERP Software as well. With Machine Learning, IoT and AI, an ERP Software will help automate more business operations than ever before. Similarly, with Blockchain technology - the open, distributed ledger that records transactions - an ERP will allow businesses to become more transparent.

While these are the advancements you can expect, there's also likely to be more customization and flexibility. There will be more custom-made ERP systems that will match business requirements and deliver business-specific results. For instance, a business can choose to integrate its sales, marketing and CRM into an ERP Software but not integrate the HR processes. While current ERP Software demands large computing systems to operate, there will soon be a time when you'll manage all business functions from a mobile device. Imagine that!