Why You Can’t Afford Not to Integrate Your Business (Though it is a Small Business)

Unnecessary, expensive, too complicated – you might find yourself using these phrases as justification for not integrating your business with an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) service.

For a small business, it is economical to think that you cannot afford the investment or that you are “too small” for such an expense. The truth is, small businesses must be faster and adaptable than big-box companies. Moreover, an ERP software gives you the ability to appear, act, and operate like an enterprise-scale organization.

In the business landscape of the 21^st century, there is no company that couldn’t benefit from the solutions of ERP software. A study done by Aberdeen Group, a leader in providing fact-based research, concluded that 80 percent of the 578 small businesses surveyed anticipate growth in revenue due to the implementation of an ERP.

The bottom line: ERP integration into your business supports innovation and growth as it will give you the data you need to drive sales and overall revenue. It will equally increase your organization’s procurement process efficiency and total customer satisfaction.

Here are a few of the more specific benefits that you can start collecting as soon as you integrate ERP applications into your business structure:

1. It helps you Save On Resources

The immediate benefit you’ll find from ERP implementation is the significant deficit in waste that will occur. According to Ecoprenerist, the average company produces 1.5 pounds of paper waste per employee per day. Reducing the amount of waste in your office is not only good for your brand (green is gold, in today’s economically aware society), but is great for your bottom line.

Reduce.org reports that Citigroup, the large financial organization, found that if each employee used double-sided copying to conserve just one sheet of paper a week, the firm would save a whopping $ 700,000 each year. Now imagine the benefits of going entirely paperless and what that could mean for your growing enterprise.

2. Integrating ERP Helps Streamline Accounting Process

If you’re finding that it takes you longer and longer to reconcile your accounts at the end of the month, it might be a sign that you need to upgrade your current tech. The reliance on paper-based invoices and sales orders will force your employees to spend hours every week manually entering information and may even require a dedicated data entry team member.

It’s in your best interest to calculate how much time is being wasted on processes that an ERP can do in an instant. Keeping all your financials in one database, the accounting staff won’t have to spend hours cross-referencing account after account to balance the books.

3. It Improves Customer Experience

When you keep sales, inventory and customer data separately you create risk across your entire organization. The possibility for error lurks in the cracks between your devices. If you run out of a particular product, your sales will be off until the next shipment. In the meantime, if a customer calls to place an order on that product, employees will be unable to track its shipping progress, or if it’s even in stock at all – ultimately dampening your company’s reputation as unreliable.

With an ERP system in place, your entire staff will be able to view updated-by-the-minute data that is uniform at every level. Customer-facing representatives can answer any and all questions regarding shipping status of their order, any service issues, and payment status. All the while, your inventory manager can keep tabs on stock and reduce major discrepancies.

Making sure all of your processes are in order and streamlined is the main objective of the enterprise resource planning software.

Imagine that you have the ability to access all of your organization’s data at the touch of any button from your device or personal computer. Your sales team will be primed and ready to seal the deal on bringing new clients in to the fold.

Most importantly, integration is cost-effective, simple to use, and offer opportunities of growth at every level. This means that your excuses not to pull the trigger aren’t holding any water anymore.

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