Is ERP Software Implementation a Justified Investment?

The world is still under the life-changing impact of COVID-19. Although we’re stepping up in 2021 with a positive attitude, businesses still are going through a process of adapting to new “rules”. Custom ERP solutions have become extremely crucial throughout this reformation process, and this shouldn’t surprise us.

An ERP system (Enterprise Resource Planning software) is a type of integrated software suite that consolidates the process of gathering and organizing business data. This software contains many applications and features that automate more than one business function related to various departments of a specific company such as accounting, customer support, sales and marketing, project management, and more. Resource planning software is a justified and beneficial investment if you know core technics for using this software. We’ll talk about it later in this article as well. 

Various companies, regardless of their field of operations, meet the need of this huge data storage system at a certain stage of their business development lifecycle. Moreover, some that feel comfortable using open-source business management software eventually conclude implementing custom resource planning software. 

In this article, we’ll discuss what’s custom ERP software and why it’s so demanded and useful. We’ll break down this topic into the following questions: 

● The advantages of ERP software 

● Which employees benefit the most from business management software

● Things you should know before custom ERP software implementation

1. The Advantages of ERP Software  

ERP software has been traditionally used for big enterprises and companies with more than 50 employees. However, in recent years, it’s been proved that this solution is also beneficial for small and medium businesses (SMBs). 

We already know that ERP is the abbreviation of Enterprise Resource Planning Software, however, what’s most interesting is that even its full name doesn’t shed light on its capabilities and doesn’t give full explanations to the reasons everyone talks about it. Due to its multifunctionality, this software is sometimes recognized with many other terms, such as a Business planning system, Resource planning software, Business management software, and more. In this article, we’ll use all these terms. 

As a business grows, the workload of its administration and departments grows simultaneously. Throughout this process, spreadsheets, e-mails, open-source software solutions with a lot of additional burden of functions, and some possible tediousness of manual jobs will take their toll on the quality of an employee’s work. On the other hand, weak points and the inability to fulfill customers’ needs could derail any business during a crucial growth cycle. This is when the necessity of custom resource planning software in both small and medium companies, as well as large enterprises, comes to the surface.

For having a concrete view of what ERP system is all about, just take a step back for a moment and think about all the crucial and non-crucial functions that a business needs to maintain and implement for finding its durable place in the market. A custom business planning system puts all the digital, customized, facilitated, and easy-to-use employee tasks on one platform. No tapping the doors of one room or another, daily time-consuming discussions, etc. You’re now much flexible to leave the office and do remote work due to some circumstances without hurting your job’s productivity. ERP software makes co-operation and communication of your employees possible in any way which includes distance-working as well. 

Some of the most common systems that are included in resource management software are:  

● CRM (Customer relationship software) 

● Inventory management system

● Payroll management 

● Reporting and analytics 

● Logistics and Supply chain management 

● Project management (Financial and procurement management)

● Product lifecycle management 

If you want to learn more about specific software solutions that I mention here, I suggest checking CodeRiders Solutions.

Besides solving major technical problems, ERP software has a positive impact on employees’ motivation. We may not even realize it, but there are a thousand daily factors that can motivate or repulse people to do certain things. This isn’t an exception in the workplace as well. A clear and less energy-consuming co-operation significantly improves work productivity. 

2. Which Employees Benefit the Most from Business Management Software

Let’s review the advantages of custom ERP software with the eyes of various employees from various departments. 

Project managers

Project managers will understand what it’s like to juggle “never-ending” tasks. Complex jobs constantly change perspectives, which overtake energy and the capacity to move on to the next task. Inventory management systems or human resource tools tailored to your niche industry gather permanent information, increase the efficient work of your project managers, as well as easily manage and automate many day-to-day manual jobs. Some functions include task management, inventory tracking, invoice processing, automatic order input, visibility and editing opportunity for a project, contracts, inventory details, compliance safeguards, auditing, etc. 

Business owners

Every business’s final goal is to get maximum profits with minimum operating costs and headcount. However, business owners also understand that to become successful you should, first of all, listen to your employees, understand their concerns and try to make your company “a hard to leave” workplace. To do these with minimum costs and a maximum ROI, certain investments should be implemented, such as building a business management system. The advantages of ERP software lie down in automated tasks and reduction of time-consuming work. Furthermore, custom resource planning software guarantees a smooth replacement of the employees if there is a need. On the other hand, it also significantly improves your company’s reputation. Improving the acceleration of your employees’ task completion processes is among one of the advantages of custom ERP software. This, in its turn, has a positive impact on customer service, quick delivery, high-quality products. 

General managers

GMs are constantly under the pressure of contractors and competitors. Holding good communication with partners meantime keeping an eye on the market is a must for these professionals. However, the overload of responsibilities sometimes leaves these professionals with a feeling of inability to complete all the requirements in an organized manner. In these cases, GMs use the same solutions made for project managers with additional features that are out of the project managers' responsibilities. These are; holding control over the quality of the company’s products and services, its customer care, keeping up with the industry competitors without letting their profit margins erode. Usually, GMs themselves suggest implementing ERP solutions if the company hasn’t got them yet. 

Financial employees

Finances are one of the most tangible parts of a business that need maximum accuracy with minimum failure or malfunctions. The offered advantages of custom ERP software include making and assorting invoices, having flawless control over financial inflows and outflows, checking the latest financial bargains, purchases, and more.

ERP software is also very important in terms of data and cloud security. The profits that you’ll get from this powerful business planning solution include dedicated security resources, the absence of malicious open-source software, as well as distributed data across multiple servers. ERP solutions are also flexible enough to be built with access limitations according to the roles and responsibilities of certain employees. 

3. Things You Should Know Before Custom ERP Software Implementation 

ERP software is a proved and justified investment if you make sure you have a concrete business plan. Make sure to have answers to the following questions before implementing your custom business management system.

● Is my data accurate and up-to-date? 

One of the main functions of ERP software is to provide access to important data and to improve the process of collecting and analyzing data. It’s all based on a “single source of truth”: one integrated database for all business processes, better reporting tools with real-time information. Thus, having custom ERP software without correct, complete, and up-to-date information is a waste of time and money. 

● Do I know my customer base and their satisfaction rate? 

Poor customer service usually is a result of failed co-operation between the sales team and product owners or service providers. Internal disruptions are major and usual problems in businesses. Business owners usually put stress on the facilitated and automized co-operation between employees from various departments to improve customer satisfaction rate. Meantime, better access to customer information and effective communication with customers is another important aspect for the success of a business. Other significant factors include a faster time of response, improved on-time delivery, improved order accuracy, etc. So, before implementing ERP solutions make sure your business is at the point of having a concrete customer base with established requirements and strategies to serve their needs. 

● Is there a need to reduce costs? 

We all know that ERP software implementation requires time and money. However, we should also note that custom ERP software is a “one-time spent” with lifelong free, secure access to your database. Business planning system influences faster financial close, improved forecasting and inventory management, analytics and accuracy, a faster measure of the average number of days a company needs to collect payment after a sale. 

Note: These are the most common things to consider before or during ERP software implementation. However, other major factors should also be considered according to specific companies’ specific needs. You’re welcome to reach out for in-detail consultations on custom business planning system integration. 

4. Who Can Help You With ERP Development

We at CodeRiders provide all of the above solutions. Our qualified software developers are experts in successfully finishing high-quality complex projects and helping business owners improve the job quality of employees. Our team works for various industries and is always excited to do something new and overcome challenges. We provide either a software development team or dedicated engineers. As one example of complex software developed by CodeRiders, you can check the lifestyle management ERP project - Dwel.Online - which we built for better communication and task management for family members. The software streamlines and automates such household activities as: 

● Document management system, to organize info and photos

● Finance management system, to spend money smartly and save more

● Shared calendar, to keep track of important family events and appointments

● Complete food planning and cooking system to make a chef out of anyone

● Task management system, to keep up with chores and errands

● Shopping list for groceries and other consumables bought on regular basis

● Message board for household members, to replace sticky notes on the fridge

● Social media-style app, to show special offers from local shops

● System setup and configuration management app

In the meantime, our business development team constantly keeps in touch with our current and possible partners to come up with beneficial innovative solutions for them. 

To sum up, ERP solutions can be justified investments in business as they thoroughly uncover companies’ pain points with easy and time-efficient digital alternatives. The advantages of custom ERP software are identified during the business development lifecycle. Business management system efficiency is not limited and is mostly characterized according to a specific company. Successfully implemented tailor-made ERP software is the ultimate solution for a smooth transfer of businesses to more advanced operation levels.