ERP or enterprise resource planning software is seeing greater adoption than ever before. There are even predictions that the ERP market will be worth more than $49.5 billion in 2025.
Despite that, a fair number of business owners still aren’t aware of what ERP software can do for them. That’s a shame because it can actually usher in a host of benefits for most businesses.
In fact, let’s take a look at some of the major ones right now:
1. Higher Efficiency
This is possibly the chief benefit of using ERP software. Better management of resources and processes enables you to optimise what happens in your organisation, leading to massive gains in efficiency.
For example, a lot of ERP software allows you to automate many critical processes. That frees up manpower that would otherwise have been allocated to those tasks.
You can thus allocate those employees to other things that can drive profit or help your business grow. Things like these happen as a result of streamlined procedures that minimise resource waste.
2. Enhanced Productivity
This obviously comes about as a result of the improved efficiency at your organisation. As we mentioned in the previous benefit, ERP software can free up employees by automating some tasks.
Those same employees can thus do more useful things with their time, like produce more useful output. They get more time to focus on actually being productive instead of just spending time doing tedious tasks.
3. Better Business Reporting and Data Accessibility
Data is more important than ever in managing organisations. Fortunately, the best ERPs are essentially data collection, storage, analysis, and reporting tools.
You’ll even find that the top ERP software in Singapore now processes data in real-time. Access to such data is valuable for businesses’ decision-makers.
By providing a central hub from which organisational data can be accessed and processed as reports, the software enables managers and business owners to get the information they need at any time.
This lets them make better, more data-driven and contextually aware decisions, in turn.
Incidentally, this isn’t just for the managers and business owners in a company. Most ERP software can be set to have multiple hierarchies or tiers of data access.
This means that you can grant permission to certain employees and let them access specific types of data that may be crucial to their roles.
That can help them collaborate with each other more effectively, such as in cases where operational data has to be shared across departments.
4. Improved Regulatory Compliance
One of the biggest challenges businesses face is keeping up with an ever-shifting body of regulations. Across industries, laws are constantly changing, which can spell danger for the unwary business owner.
Compliance is important because failure to meet it can lead to some very costly results. It’s not unlikely to end up with a hefty fine or even a costly and reputation-sinking lawsuit if you miss something important.
Here’s where good ERP software can help: they’re usually designed with compliance measures baked right in.
Most ERPs are updated regularly to ensure compliance with relevant regulations. As such, they can help you keep an eye on that aspect of your business by offering guidance or even flagging issues.
5. More Effective Customer Data Management & Relations
If the ERP software you choose has customer information tools, it can very well improve the way you manage relationships with your customers.
Among other things, it means your sales and marketing teams can integrate their efforts more seamlessly with each other. This results in more effective overall customer service, with faster responses and delivery.
6. Bigger Cost Savings
This is probably the benefit that most people who’ve never considered ERP software find difficult to believe. It’s because it’s common for them to only look at the initial cost of getting such software without calculating the ways it can save them money.
As we noted earlier, ERP software can improve productivity. It can streamline operations and cut down resource waste, enhance customer service and thus satisfaction, and achieve a great many things that make a business run smoother.
That’s how it lets you save money. It lowers the toll of resource waste, cuts expenses related to poor interdepartmental collaboration, reduces the cost of getting certain tasks done through automation, and so on.
On the whole, the benefits of ERP software can lead to much trimmer operations where every dollar goes into something that actually helps the organisation grow. This is the entire point of enterprise resource planning and is definitely one of the key reasons to get such software.
