Top 5 signals that your company is ready for an ERP system

Je bent steeds meer tijd kwijt om inzicht te krijgen in de juiste cijfers van je bedrijf. De verkoopprognose is meer gebaseerd op gevoel en aannames, dan gebaseerd op cijfers. Je hebt steeds meer moeite met de groter wordende order volumes en de klanttevredenheid wordt telkens minder. Je hebt geen idee hoeveel voorraad je precies in je magazijn hebt en het is moeilijk om dit eenvoudig na te zoeken.

If this sounds like your business, then you might want to think about one​ ERP-System. Your business is about to drown!

Every company is unique and there is no specific indicator that says: “You now need the ERP system”. However, companies that benefit most from ERP Software often face similar problems and frustrations. Read on for the top 5 signs that your company is ready for ERP.

1. You have many software packages for different processes

Just think about this for a few minutes. How do your employees record information, how do they retrieve it, and how do they process it? The bookkeeper uses his accounting program for debtor and creditor management. The sales department has a separate package for CRM and sales orders. Is transferring sales orders and up-to-date customer information between sales and accounting a time-consuming manual process? Do they use a different system in the warehouse for making, sending, and tracking deliveries?

When different front and backend systems are not integrated and all run separately, they make the process inefficient, and it does not run smoothly. Without the correct data from the sales department, issues in inventory management can arise. While, not having the latest data from the financial department has a direct negative impact on marketing and sales, for example.

ERP Software is the software that integrates everything so that your company can rely on one database, with all the right information. All source information in one place and always up-to-date and real-time. With ERP Software, you always have the right information available to make the correct decisions.

2. You don't have easy access to information about your company

If someone were to ask you what your average sales margin is, how long would it take you to find out? What about other key performance indicators, such as the number of orders per day or sales to date? For companies that rely on outdated systems and Excel spreadsheets, which must be constantly updated manually, looking up this data can take a while.

Nowadays, it goes much faster than before. This means that your employees within your company must have direct access to the most important information. With an ERP solution, managers have a helicopter view of the operation and employees have the right information they need to perform their tasks as efficiently as possible.

3. Accounting is taking more and more time and is becoming more and more complex

Often the first signals that your company needs an ERP system come from the financial department. If your employees are still spending a lot of time processing paper sales orders and invoices from one system to another, consider how much time is being lost.

With ERP Software, this waste of time is no longer necessary. The same applies to creating financial reports. All figures in a single database gives you the opportunity to present all reports easily and on time.

4. Sales and customer satisfaction are declining

When companies grow, one of the biggest challenges is often good inventory management. Ensuring that the right amount of a product is in the right location at the right time is one of the most important tasks.

When sales, inventory, and customer information are managed separately, this can cause major problems in your company. If you run out of running products, nothing will be sold until the next delivery from the supplier. Meanwhile, if a customer calls to ask about their delivery and the employee has no insight into the stock or deliveries to the customer, your company will get a bad name. Your reduced reliability and service becomes a major issue.

With an ERP System, the authorized people of every department have access to the same up-to-date information. Representatives can answer customer questions about order status, delivery status, inventory, payments, etc. immediately, without hanging up, calling back or transferring. But even better, it is now also possible to show the customer this information online in a customer portal. Meanwhile, the warehouse manager can see directly when stock gets low and order products on time.

5. Your IT becomes too complex and takes too much time

One of the biggest disadvantages of multiple systems within your company is that IT management becomes a nightmare. Managing, adjusting and integrating these systems is complex, time-consuming, and costly.

Implementing patches and other updates for local outdated software systems (on-premise) sometimes costs more than it yields. Not only are these updates costly, they sometimes unintentionally undo local changes to the software. It is therefore no surprise that many companies work with outdated systems, which are no longer up-to-date.

Instead of constantly adding new software, and thus complexity, to an already inefficient system, modern ERP software allows you to respond quickly and flexibly to changes in the market. That's why many companies today opt for a . Odoo Experts, implements and maintains the system for you and gives you the service and support you need.

What does the software landscape look like at your company?

Thinking about these for a few minutes, how many systems do you count? Looking forward to your response.

Top 5 signals that your company is ready for an ERP system
Erwin van der Ploeg September 18, 2015
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