Data is complicated, but extremely useful – if it’s correct, clear, and well-organized.
Not exactly a hot take there, but we’re certain any business owner would agree it’s true. What’s really tricky is how to manage all of your data and use it to make better business decisions.
One tool exists to make your life easier. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software can centralize your data and keep it organized in one location. Let’s take a look at why 2022 is the year you need to add ERP software to your toolkit.
What Is ERP Software?
ERP software exists to help you manage your back-end processes. It’s a centralized program that can handle all of your essential business functions, such as finance and accounting, supply chains and inventory, and even HR tasks like scheduling.
Put simply, ERP software organizes all of your most important data in one safe, organized, accessible, easy-to-understand location. When your business has ERP software in place, it’s the core program you need to keep track of all of your data and moving parts. You won’t lose any data in an outdated spreadsheet. Your ERP will give you a complete, real-time picture of your daily operations.
5 Reasons ERP Software Is More Important Than Ever In 2022
What makes a good ERP package so important in current times? Let’s take a look.
1. Save Your Business Money
While ERP software can seem like a daunting expense upfront, it leads to huge savings in short order. ERP’s incredible potential to deliver ROI stems from its ability to organize your data.
Without an ERP, your numbers can be all over the place. This prevents you from using your data to its full potential. Everything from accounting to product development will be easily accessible by all members of your team in one centralized system.
When you’re able to unify your data, you give your team the tools they need to do their job more effectively. Your staff won’t waste time searching for information — it’s always right there in one place where the info they need is easy to retrieve.
Your business will therefore save money by saving your team members time. Time is money, after all! When your staff can more efficiently find the data they need, they can use their time more productively and bring in more revenue.
Having an ERP also eliminates the need to pay for costly training for your staff on multiple systems — a large expense in itself as well as another time-waster for your team. Work with one vendor, and keep your staff on one system. Life will be easier and less expensive.
2. Improve Your Team’s Productivity
As mentioned above, if you leave your data and reporting to traditional methods, your team cannot avoid time-consuming, tedious tasks like searching for the right numbers, generating reports, timesheet tracking, monitoring your inventory, and processing orders. Previously, these tasks add up to hours for your team. With an ERP, they can be done in minutes.
Consider also that entering data is a fairly mindless, tedious task for your team. They likely don’t love it and will be glad to hear it’s off their plate. Plus, when you use an ERP to automate data entry, you remove the possibility of human error.
The best solution will handle redundant tasks and even provide reports for your team quickly and easily. Your staff will thank you as they’re freed up for more important and enjoyable work. This increases your team’s productivity and morale, a win-win when it comes to revenue and employee retention.
3. Make Your Customers Happy
Now more than ever, you need to make sure you’re doing everything to keep your customers happy.
No matter what your industry does, there’s likely a super-convenient option available on the internet. Whether it’s clothes, restaurants, services, and anything else you can imagine — options and competition are out there, and people are turning to online reviews to make their buying decisions.
To ensure your customers are having a great experience and leaving your good reviews, you can first provide top-notch goods and services. Your ERP can help with the latter — as most good ERPs come with a customer relationship management (CRM) tool integration.
With a CRM integration, your team can make customer-focused decisions based on your data. You’ll know order history, billing information, customer locations, etc. You can use the data to meet your customers at the right moments and understand what they’re looking for. This power helps form your sales strategy and will send your revenue through the roof.
4. Smarter Data, Better Decisions
When all of your information is stored in a central database, it gives you unparalleled advantages when it comes to analytics and reporting. Your ERP stores all of your user data, making it easy for you to use the data to make smarter business decisions.
Generate reports faster and respond in minutes instead of days or longer. Use customizable reporting features to weaponize the data that really matters to your business. Learn when and where customers are buying, what’s working and what isn’t, and make changes to improve your bottom line.
Your staff can generate reports whenever is needed — meaning you no longer even need to rely on your IT team — and everyone will have access to the data and be able to easily create reports. Quick, easy access allows your team to respond in real-time rather instead of always being just a bit behind the curve.
5. Scale Your Business Faster
When armed with all of the above advantages thanks to a powerful ERP, your business will grow and scale with ease.
You’ll have all the data you need right at your fingertips, and the time saved by your ERP will allow your team to manage your increasing business. The ERP handles the data while your team gets creative and pumps out new products and ideas.
Thanks to your ERP, you’ll be able to keep up with growth. You’ll never become overwhelmed by the numbers — the software handles the data for you. An ERP really frees you up to work on your business rather than being mired in data.
Summary
The case is clear for ERP software in 2022 — your business needs it if you want to free up your workers and enjoy easy access to real-time data in one, central location. The time and money savings will give your team the freedom they need to flex their creative muscle and help you provide incredible customer service while you evolve your products.
Your business goals await. Join one of our upcoming webinars to see what a top-rated ERP software like aACE can do for your business today.
