Does Your Business Really Need an ERP System?
Does Your Business Really Need an ERP System?
ERP system is an advanced form of general accounting system; but the benefits are enormous. Many people still don’t know why they should opt for this.
Running a Business?
Running an business is never an easy task, especially when you have monitor many processes and departments, from the ordering of raw materials and supplies to the sales and delivery of your customer’s orders. Every department is inter-dependent with another. Failure of the sales department to meet a target would render an oversupply in the warehouse, while overwhelming sales orders can stress the manufacturing department should it fail to meet the orders on time.
If this sounds like your concern, you are probably considering to implement an ERP system into your business. So how exactly does an ERP system work and how can it ensure that every department is running efficiently to sustain or even grow your business?
The Modules
In order to understand how an ERP system can benefit your business, think of each department as a module. These modules need to efficiently communicate with one another in order to ensure that business runs as usual.
Let us start with the sales department
This department is in charge of getting orders to ensure that the business runs a profit. Your sales team may have a target to reach every month, and with such information, you may also have a projected sales figure in the upcoming months. But in order to fulfill the orders, you’ll have to deliver right?
This is when the purchasing department comes in
Are there enough raw materials or supplies available to meet the orders from the sales department? If there isn’t, the purchasing department inputs its orders of raw materials into a system and sends an order to your supplier. And where should these orders be delivered to?
The warehouse, of course
That’s where everything is stored for delivery or for manufacturing. The raw materials go nowhere and have no value to your customers. So, after the warehouse has reported the availability and supply levels of the raw materials, you are ready to turn the raw material into something valuable and deliverable to your customer.
The manufacturing process begins to product sufficient quantity to meet your sales orders
Can they produce enough to meet deliver the finished products to your customers on time? Unfortunately, if the answer is ‘no,’ then an OT may be scheduled to meet the production dateline. When the production is completed, they may go back to the warehouse to be delivered, and that’s when you collect your money.
The finance department not only collects your money
It also has to ensure that your suppliers are being paid for the raw materials they delivered. Did your manufacturing department clock in OT hours? If so, they can easily see the figures from the ERP software and pay your employees accordingly.
Human Resource Management
Were your employees payed accordingly? Did you have to hire new staff to speed up the manufacturing process? Did your employees feel that they were under-compensated? The human resource department can easily look for relevant data to investigate such instances, which can easily be accessed on the ERP software.
Uh-Oh, Bad Customer Feedback
What do you do with bade customer feedback? To minimize damage, it would be wise to act promptly and find out what happened. Was the quality of the orders compromised because you had speed up the manufacturing process?
Was the quantity not what you had promised? The ERP solution not only allows you to manage your customers, but also allows you to investigate what possibly went wrong during the process.
As a business owner of a growing enterprise, it’s essential to know exactly what’s going on in every department. Communication needs to be efficient and operations need to be carried out without a glitch. But you can’t spend all your time going to every department to check – you need to focus on developing your business!
That’s when ERP software such as the Kingdee K/3 solution will come in handy. See how your business performs overall from a single software, and monitor the processes easily with reports. If you want to run an efficient and sustainable business, you should consider implementing an ERP software like Kingdee K/3.
Speak to Reach Technologies today and we’ll help you customize an ERP solution that meets your growing business needs