Over the last few decades, businesses have used clever and effective business automation software to boost productivity, improve operational efficiency, and achieve profitability. 

Integration of logistics and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is beneficial to any manufacturing or distribution company trying to improve efficiency, speed, and customer satisfaction across all of its activities. Startups and small businesses usually have limited budgets and don’t have the luxury of significant investments. A robust ERP system is the cornerstone of today’s business, requiring meticulous planning. Today, we will share some tips to help you successfully implement and implement an ERP system.

 

Creating a new ERP solution

Even if your company doesn’t use an ERP system, you may have some applications that mimic ERP functionality. One app to ensure you don’t forget your customers’ contacts, another to manage meetings, a third to keep track of your employees, etc. This approach may help you get the job done; however, it can’t be considered optimal.

The lack of a seamless flow of information between different company departments significantly reduces overall transparency and efficiency. It takes more time to verify a specific piece of data before making an important decision, so if you’re often faced with project deadlines, you know where the potential source of the problem is. Also, when you’re using several different applications instead of one full-featured ERP application, maintenance can be a real headache. Each developer of an off-the-shelf application has a vision of what functionality needs to be implemented and when to provide updates. 

However, if you have an ERP application, there are still some issues that can make you decide to implement additional functionality. Adding a pinch of new technology to your ERP is an excellent way to improve your competitiveness in the marketplace.

For example, cloud software can be a worthy alternative to on-premises solutions because it helps reduce the cost of buying or renting servers to store data. Using IoT devices can help your company with a large volume of real-time data. Companies in every field, from agriculture to healthcare, can incorporate support for IoT devices into their ERP software to automate many business processes. Artificial intelligence and machine learning help you take a fresh look at the data your company has accumulated over years of market presence. If you implement predictive analytics, your ERP software can be a source of valuable insights. Such software can predict market trends, so you’ll be well-prepared for the upcoming increase in demand for specific products or services.

Building an ERP system, you’ll be proud of

Whether you decide to create custom ERP software from scratch or implement additional features to enhance the capabilities of your current ERP software, there are some critical factors to consider.

Look at your business from a new perspective

 Implementing a new ERP functionality can be an excellent opportunity to rethink how your organization operates and find new potential growth points. It should provide a new, more creative way to achieve your business goals.

For example, a warehouse management module for your ERP system might include supporting NFC tags to control the movement of goods better and streamline the shipment process. 

Have realistic expectations

 You have to be realistic about the benefits you’ll get if you implement and adopt a new ERP solution. In addition, you must be clear about what you want to get out of it. The pain points you identified in the previous step can be a good starting point.

Make a list of the problems your business regularly faces and decide how ERP software can be the solution. Blindly implementing as many features as possible will turn your ERP application into a mess. An application with an overloaded user interface that gives you access to hundreds of features, most of which your employees don’t use, is not the best investment you can make.

Don’t give up on the data you’re currently using

Moving to a new ERP solution can be a traumatic experience without proper attention. Your data is one of your most crucial assets, and you should treat it accordingly. If you’ve been using a particular application for decades, there’s a reasonably high likelihood that it’s working with outdated data formats. Your current solution’s database management system may not be up to modern standards either.

To ensure that migrating to a new ERP solution doesn’t cost you all the business information you have, make sure that the developers pay proper attention to the data migration process. Data architecture and design are complex and vast topics that deserve a separate article or a book. Successfully converting the data into a new format and making it available to the latest ERP software solution is, in some ways, a more critical and complex task.

The future is even nearer than you think

After deciding to implement a new ERP solution, you can invest in the most in-demand innovative technology and still have to put up with an outdated system much sooner than you expected. Everything happens fast these days, so you need to understand your current and future needs. It is impossible to implement an artificial intelligence algorithm capable of predicting what state of affairs we will face in a few years. 

Choose a developer who can implement a different solution than the ERP system you are currently using. If the software developer implements the same functionality in a brighter wrapper, you won’t get much. The ERP system you’re going to implement should keep your business thriving for as long as possible, so focus on breakthrough technology, such as big data or artificial intelligence. You can start by looking at a company’s portfolio that you think is worthy of cooperation.

The features that programmers should implement when developing an ERP system are just as important as the technology used. One of the most important rules is to choose the technologies you need, not the ones you want. If a particular programming language, framework, or library is on the rise right now, that doesn’t mean it will meet your current and future needs. This rule works in reverse as well. An established and widely accepted decade-old technology that runs on every other digital device on the planet is not necessarily better than a newcomer to the market.

 

Final Thoughts

Using an intelligent ERP solution can turn your core KPIs into a point of pride. For almost any bottleneck that reduces your company’s overall performance, a software solution can improve the situation or at least help control it better. With careful planning and the cooperation of a reliable software developer, you can create the ERP solution of your dreams that will be a reliable tool for years to come.

Contact us if you want to breathe new life into your ERP software with cutting-edge technology.