How Does An ERP System Work?

Enterprise Resource Management or ERP gathers and organizes business data by using an integrated software suite. ERP comprises applications that can automate the production, accounting and sales of any business. Today ERP has found its place in industries of several verticals, and it is now available in the cloud platform. 

Working of ERP

Usually, ERP uses a centralized database which minimizes manual labor and adds simplicity to the existing business workflow. With the help of an ERP system, resources can check the dashboard to fetch the real-time data of the whole business and work accordingly to increase productivity. ERP integrates the internal and external teams to keep them on the same page, thus help them to manage projects and daily activities through a shared database. It simplifies the procedure of tracking the guidelines, managing of everyday challenges which come while running any organization.

Without ERP, it becomes difficult to share the data across all the verticals of the business. Data sharing and big data visualization become a cakewalk with ERP. Such simplification of data helps in business goal development and cuts down the amount of time your team will spend on tasks that can be automated through ERP.

Who can use ERP?

Any small and big size companies can use ERP to streamline their workflow. Below are some of the verticals where ERP is commonly used

• Retail
• Pharmaceutical
• Manufacturing
• Distribution
• Construction
• Technology
• Hospitality
• Aerospace and Defense

Based on the industry, the software can be customized to fulfill particular needs. For instance, many pharmaceutical industries use ERP to keep an eye on their legal regulations; hence it helps them in workflow management. Features like ERP analytics also play a vital role in providing insights into the daily business process of organizations.

What are the benefits of ERP?

Streamlining with workflow visibility

Before the emergence of ERP, it was difficult to maintain coordination among various worksites as it was a tedious task. To fetch updates on a particular business part, a personal visit was required to that place. Many big companies with national and international site locations used to work around time zones. In case of any issue with the production partner, the entire business suffers a lot, resulting in endless phone calls and personal visits.

ERP systems changed all such things with their workflow visibility. Now managers can get real-time information about manufacturing plants, perform ERP invetory management, and the distribution centers even from their office headquarters.

Data Analytics with Business Intelligence

To run your business successfully, it is essential to have accurate data. With the help of the Business Intelligence (BI) tool, ERP caters to accurate business data and the reporting method. This tool provides a way of analyzing real-time data to make instant changes in the process. Even businesses can do forecasting based on historical data.

With ERP, a business can develop customized reports, which can be presented in front of their shareholders, team members or business partners to inform everyone about the key performance indicator (KPI) metrics.

Scheduling Solutions

Customize your scheduling tools through ERP. This will keep a record of your employees’ shift timings, date of inventory delivered, and the maintenance time of your factory. Keep all such records in a single calendar and share them with your resources and supply chain partners to keep everyone on the same page.

Cross-department collaboration

Companies need to maintain internal communication between each department to avoid mistakes. And if the company is spread globally, then there should be a solution to connect resources across different time zones and language barriers. A miscommunication among raw material suppliers and distribution centres can lead to heavy loss. ERP keeps a record of all emails, files, phone calls and texts. Even it also provides internal channels for proper communication.

This CRM tool can also be employed for customer interactions like lead tracking, follow-ups etc. Read this guide to understand the difference between ERP and CRM

EPCGroup provides ERP Consulting using Business Central for organizations. We are Microsoft Certified Gold Partner and have more than 70+ In house Microsoft ERP experts. We help you choose the right products among all Microsoft ERP products

Data Security with Risk Management

In this digital world, securing your company from fraudulent activities is a significant task and most of the companies are concerned about it. If your business is online, it is at risk. ERPs real-time risk management tools render security to companies by doing audits automatically along with fraud monitoring.

Companies contain lots of sensitive data; ERP secures all such data by keeping them in one place. You can also avoid data duplication by putting all complete information in one cohesive place.

Customizable Solutions

Does your brand deal with international clients? Do you submit official documents to the government? Do you use social media to target your audience? Well! If your answer to all the questions is yes, then there is good news! Customized modules of ERP solutions can fit all your business needs. Through artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things (IoT) For data analytics, it is possible to automate most of your tasks.

Final Takeaway

ERP provides a versatile, customizable solution, and configuration options that allow companies to fulfill their specific needs. It is easy to integrate ERP with the existing systems, so as to automate your tedious workflow and to make it easier and faster.