When most startups begin operating, they need a few things to manage their daily routines. With just some spreadsheets and a website, they can handle most of the activities such as data, orders, and finances.
As the enterprises grow, the owners have to keep up with a number of things on a daily basis to stay on top of their game. If you feel your business is no longer small, it’s high time you begin thinking of an ERP system. Here are specific signs that indicate your startup is ready for an ERP solution.
1. Multiple software solutions
Having various software systems running separately for each department can cause problems in the operations of your enterprise. Lack of accurate data can have a ripple effect. For example, if you don’t get high-quality data from the inventory management department, it will impact the sales.
Every area of your business is going to suffer, from budgets to payroll, and marketing to human resources. ERP system ensures that all systems are integrated, meaning that you have a single database.
The one source of information with reliable real-time data helps employees to make quick and accurate decisions. In this way, you have a lot of time to focus on growing the other areas of your business.
2. Difficult to access business information
For business owners, it’s a good idea to have easy access to all the important information about your enterprise. Information such as key performance metrics and orders per day should never be difficult to find. Enterprises that use manual systems and spreadsheets, requiring to manually update and reconcile, it takes ages to access information.
The demands of customers and competition have now caused the pace of business to be faster than before. Therefore, employees in your company have to get the information they need immediately.
An enterprise planning software automates all business processes and employees can find this information easily to help them perform their duties effectively. For instance, the sales staff can see a customer’s transaction profile and make quick decisions on whether to renew rates or not.
3. Long accounting processes
Accounting is a critical component of your business, and problems in this area is a good sign that your business needs an ERP system.
If your staff is still using paper-based invoices and are spending countless hours manually capturing data into various sales and accounting systems, you need to take drastic action. There is a lot of time being wasted on activities that an ERP system can easily do.
An ERP system will help you reconcile or consolidate financial information spread across the various departments. Having all the financial data in a single database will help the accounting staff to reconcile data in an instant and create an overall smart financial modeling. It frees your staff and improves their productivity by delivering important reports quickly.
4. Poor sales and customer experience
As startups begin growing, it becomes challenging to manage inventory. It’s difficult to track if you are delivering the products in the right place and at the right time. You have serious problems when inventory, sales, and customer data are stored in separate systems.
Once the product runs out, there will be no sales until you deliver the products. Meantime, the customers who want to purchase the products are left wondering when they will get them because even employees don’t know if the shipment was done. This begins to build a bad reputation for your business because of poor services.
On the other hand, with an ERP system, the sales employees have access to all the information. The staff at the front desk should be able to answer queries about orders, payment status, shipping status, and other issues without checking with another department. Customers can also go online and check in their account to see the status of their order.