Harris KhanEnterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a business management software that provides an integrated solution for managing the operations of an enterprise. It includes accounting, manufacturing, supply chain, and other core business functions.
ERP is highly scalable because it has a modular design and can be customized to meet the needs of any size company. It can also integrate seamlessly with most other business systems like CRM, ERP, IT, and more. This means optimizing your Infor M3 installation or any other similar software can be lucrative.
There are multiple ways to optimize your ERP system. Here’s how to do it.
Identify the Benefits of an ERP
- Improved productivity by increasing time-to-market.
- Better decision-making by always providing clear visibility into your company’s financial health.
- Easier access to financial information helps you manage your cash flow better.
- Better planning for marketing strategies by providing the data needed to track customer satisfaction levels in real-time via surveys or social media posts.
Understand What Makes a Good Solution
With an understanding of what you need, you can choose a system that best fits your company’s operations. A good Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution should be comprehensive, flexible, and above all, easy-to-use.
A comprehensive solution handles all your company’s processes for you, including:
- Accounts payable
- Accounts receivable
- Inventory management
- Employee payroll
- Customer relationship management (CRM)
- Procurement/purchasing
- Time tracking
Determining Best Practices
Before deciding what software system is best for your business, ensure you’ve first identified all your company’s requirements.
- Look at what others in your industry are using.
- Analyze how other companies are handling similar processes.
Once you have a list of those needs, prioritise them to know what matters most. Afterwards, start taking notes on potential software solutions that match your priorities, and this should give you some options to choose from.
Growth Metrics
Optimizing may also depend on how well you understand growth metrics. Growth metrics can give you important insight into how your business is developing. Don’t track these numbers? You should. If you’re not following how many customers are coming back, how often they make repeat purchases, or what their average order value is, you’re missing a valuable opportunity to optimize your sales strategy.
Key Performance Indicators
Typically, KPIs fall into three categories:
- Financial
- Operational
- Strategic
Each type of KPI tracks a different aspect of a company’s success, so choose those most relevant to your organisation’s goals. Think about long-term objectives like profits, revenues, or market share. But also consider other factors that are meaningful to you as an individual or organisation. Maybe you want to improve customer satisfaction? Is it perhaps time efficiency? This isn’t an exhaustive list of options; whatever goals make sense for you should be included here.
Upgrade and Optimize
Upgrading your software can be costly, but it will also give you access to new features that allow greater efficiency. Ensure you stay up-to-date on all your current software’s features so you don’t miss out on ways to optimize your business. Also, look at competitors’ software. Not only might they have something you could use, but they might also be developing a feature that is just right for what you need!
The Bottom Line
It’s no surprise that Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is quickly becoming a favourite for businesses large and small who want a more efficient way to organise their companies. The trick is learning how to optimize your business processes, so you can take advantage of everything a new system has to offer.
