Still Carrying a Bag Phone? You Might Need A Small Business ERP Solution

The idea of carrying around a three-pound cell phone in a bag – one of the earlier, cumbersome models you used to have to unzip and pop up an antennae to use – sounds ridiculous today in a world of tiny, high-speed gadgets. The same is true for inconsistent, non-streamlined ERP solutions. If you’re lugging around the baggage from multiple systems for resource planning, or relying on spreadsheets only a few people on your team can use, it’s time to consider an ERP software solution – even if you’re a smaller business.

Open source, on-site, on-demand?

ERP solutions aren’t just for mega-companies anymore. You can still get bigger-business benefits without the high price, with fast deployment and simple use and maintenance. Whichever deployment you choose, your ERP solution means you can make all your business processes more efficient and productive. Customer service, orders and inventory, finance, human resources – all of these processes and more can be handled quickly with an ERP solution.

Here’s a note about open source – it’s an arena where some newer ERP tools are found. With open source deployments, such as Compiere, an industry leader, you get a small business ERP solution that can be quickly customized to your needs without the need for extra and costly programming. In a new take on ERP, Compiere, ERP applications exists as “objects” in a dictionary instead of 3GL code, so upgrades are simpler and costs are lower.

Managing More Products – Are You Ready?

It’s not so much a challenge as an opportunity. Choose a small business ERP solution so that you can quickly update key data about your products, your buyers, your suppliers and vendors, and your current technology. ERP is a storehouse for this information that may not appear on a daily production basis but helps build your foundation for success. Plus, your vendor should give you access to special features for tracing and tracking your total production from step one to the last phase of your workflow. Look for an ERP solution that gives you strong visibility into costing structures so you can plan as you grow.

Shipping Across Borders Using a Small Business ERP Solution

Your organization’s total data package can be housed centrally with an ERP solution, so when you ship globally, mistakes and problems are kept to a minimum. Because everyone on your team can access reports, decisions are made as a team using real-time data. In comparison to traditional spreadsheet-based methods for tracking inventory, shipping and customer contacts, along with international regulations, a small business ERP solution truly stands out (in a good way).

New Customers (Without New Staff)

It’s a reality for smaller businesses that the challenge to serve new customers can sometimes outweigh even the revenue benefits. An ERP solution means you can provide the customer service you want for new customers without needing to add new staff. This is because many vendors have the tools to handle multiple divisions with a single data entry, such as synching up inventory with sales forecasting, or adding built-in human resources functions that your employees can self-access. A solid small business ERP solution should help streamline your workload even as your customer demands increase.

Sending Documents to Suppliers