Why Growing businesses should use an ERP system
Updated: Aug 28
Fast growth businesses face many challenges, from winning customers and opening new markets, to hiring talent and managing complex supply chains. These become even more challenging when managers lack critical real-time business intelligence to make informed decisions at speed. That’s where an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system can deliver a significant competitive advantage – transforming your operations and giving you the visibility and control to lead.
If your main business objective is growth, then you need the power of an ERP system to deliver:
A 360-degree view of operations, inventory, production and finances
Information-rich data that improves analysis, planning and forecasting
More efficient, automated operational processes and systems that enable growth
Financial control and insights to stay competitive and attract investors
Customer experiences that help attract and retain business
Data security and compliance with regulations, including more accurate audits
The agility to integrate new teams, launch new products or services, and open new markets.
History needn’t be destiny – an ERP can transform your future
Here at C&J ERP Consulting, we’ve helped many great businesses free themselves from cumbersome, legacy systems and inefficient data use. Many have experienced periods of growth and consolidation; and have adopted or inherited various software products along the way that they’ve since outgrown. These systems are also often incompatible with each other – using different formats and protocols that makes it hard, if not impossible, to share vital data with decision makers across the company.
As a result, valuable reports and insights are hidden in siloes, even on individual PCs, rather than in a centralised, accessible system. Teams struggle to share information because their systems can’t ‘talk to each other’, and workarounds (such as manually copying data from one system to another) can introduce errors which then require valuable time to reconcile. This sort of inefficiency slows you down and leaves people frustrated and demoralised at missed opportunities.
There’s a better way – the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) way.
The 7 benefits of choosing an ERP system
A professionally implemented, integrated and optimised ERP system can deliver a significant ROI and help you scale-up fast. That’s the case whether you choose a popular and trusted brand like NetSuite or one of the many competitor products for specific industries. Having worked on 100s of ERP implementation projects, here are the seven main benefits we expect you to see from day one:
1. Enhanced visibility and control
A comprehensive ERP system will provide you with a strategic and detailed 360-degree view of your business, enabling better monitoring and management of even complex operations. With real-time data visibility comes more effective planning, forecasting and decisions. This business intelligence is critical if your ambition is to grow across multiple locations, especially in international markets.
2. Improved data integration and accuracy
Consolidating all your data from across your business in a single, unified ERP System will improve knowledge sharing and understanding between managers. It will also reduce the errors that typically arise when data is transferred (often manually) between different systems, particularly where they use different formats. A cloud-based ERP will also ensure greater data security and enable more flexible, agile working with remote access from anywhere in the world.
3. Greater operational efficiency
Fast growth businesses need to attract and retain top talent – and not then waste it on high volume, low value, repetitive and mundane tasks. An effective ERP implementation will standardise and automate such workflows, so freeing your people to do more satisfying and valuable work. Optimising those tasks before implementation will also enable you to move forward with streamlined, best practice procedures that reduce operational costs and enable you to stay lean and agile.
4. Better financial management
Impaired cashflows can destroy even highly profitable businesses. With real-time reporting, including faster month-end closes, an ERP will give you greater oversight and control of all financial aspects of your business, including inventory and order management, and cashflows. The granular detail will help you identify cost centres and leakages, and make audits more straightforward. Scale-up businesses seeking external funding find this particularly useful for building confidence with potential investors.
5. Smarter customer service
An ERP system will ensure that all your customer data is securely stored in one place and only available to approved individuals in your business. At the same time, it will enable your sales teams to deliver more consistent, personalised, omni-channel services, so improving customer satisfaction and reducing churn. A cloud-based system will enable your representatives to access this data remotely, making it easier to serve B2B clients at their premises or on the move.
6. Stronger compliance
ERPs are particularly useful in highly regulated industries, such as financial services. The real-time data makes it faster and simpler to pull up regulatory reports, customised if necessary, and track compliance risks. This can make it easier to demonstrate that your business is meeting specific accounting and financial regulations in both local and international markets.
7. Faster scalability and more agility
You need a system that can develop with your business as it grows, not hold it back with outdated working practices. ERPs are designed to be flexible and adaptable to meet your changing needs. The ability to customise your ERP system and integrate it seamlessly with other systems will help you optimise processes and ensure they stay aligned with your evolving business goals.
ERP change management is easier with an experienced partner
Many businesses delay adopting a new ERP because they already have too many other systems, for things like accounts, HR, sales, procurement, and CRM. They have established workarounds to handle different data sources and the thought of trying to bring them all together can be overwhelming. But it is not as hard as you think, if you choose the right ERP Project Manager and the right ERP system.
Putting an ERP like NetSuite at the heart of your business is an great way of linking disparate systems together. By implementing an effective integration programme, your ERP Project Manager can turn your ERP into a central hub that synchronises and shares data more effectively across your business. Here at C&J, we combine software project management skills with experienced NetSuite implementation consultants to deliver long-lasting, futureproofed ERP systems for fast growing businesses.
Why use an ERP?
If you're wondering why you should move to an ERP and what type of ERP system you should use, book a free ERP consultation with us today to see how we can help you integrate your new ERP.
