How can a complete ERP solution transform your business?

ERP solution is a popular term in this digital era. It is well-known for several benefits for business. From improving communication, enhancing productivity, reducing operational costs, many companies (including your competitors) are adopting it to boost their growth.

According to a report in 2019, in the Asia Pacific, the market value for ERP software has increased to $9.67 billion by 2020 and predicted to reach $26.37 billion by 2026. Yet, with the effect of COVID-19 forcing companies to implement remote working, the numbers would be dramatically higher due to the practical perks of ERP for teleworking.

So, what an ERP solution really is?

Along with the company’s growth, the mountain of data keeps getting bigger with spreadsheets and duplicated files, your staff gets tired of switching between software to communicate with each other. Moreover, your process takes more and more time while the number of customers keeps increasing with tougher requirements.

They are common challenges of many companies and also the reason why ERP was built.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP)  is a type of software that integrates core processes within a company in one place. Unlike other software focusing on a specific business process, ERP integrates all day-to-day activities of business management, e.g., product planning, development, manufacturing, sales, accounting, HR and marketing. The software collects, centralizes, stores, organizes, and interprets data from all parts of a company.

Primarily, only large, multinational companies could afford to use ERP systems, as they were expensive to run and required a dedicated IT team handling their deployment and maintenance. However, more and more SMEs across many industries start adopting ERP as the cost is more affordable and there are more vendors providing offshore IT service to help them maintain the system.

How an ERP solution innovates business process

Manage your business in one place

Before, businesses usually use different programs to manage sections such as Marketing, Accounting, Sales. It would be a challenge when they need those programs to work together, especially small companies having limited skilled IT resources for proper integrations.

With ERP, you can manage many core business areas in one system. An ERP solution can consist of all the business functions to ensure seamless management across all departments. Core operations like HR, Marketing, Sales, Accounting, Manufacturing are integrated under one system.

By adopting a full integrated ERP solution, you can overcome many common issues such as data errors, duplicate data, unable to gain an overview of the whole business, lack of communication between departments. For example, when the sales team confirms an order, your ERP system will automatically inform all related teams to take action like the finance department to prepare the papers, the inventory to check product availability, the purchasing department to replenish stock if needed.

Once your company record to manage its information and processes by one system, then all your operational areas can stay on the same page to ensure effective collaboration and fully informed decisions.

Thus, you can improve your business efficiency and save costs related to IT management by making the most of ERP.

Digitize business process

In this digital era, a streamlined and online operation is the key to being competitive. That is a factor fueling the growth of ERP adoption rate. ERP has the proven advantage of turning complicated processes into clicks.

First of all, ERP software can enable automation and provide an overview check quickly and easily. For example, after your sales team win a contract, the system can automatically generate a sale order and inform related departments. Or, you can check the stocks in all the inventory with a few clicks. Your purchasing staff also can check the product availability of several vendors in seconds.

Besides, as the system centralizes and keeps updating data in real-time, you can have accurate and visual reports easily to ensure data-driven decision-making. Moreover, ERP can help standardize your process to ensure that you can provide professional services that satisfy your customers. Besides, ERP also can ensure smooth remote management with tools supporting your home-working staff.

Enhance customer satisfaction

Whether your company is a B2B or B2C business, your customers always have high expectations. In the retailing industry, for example, consumers now expect to have a seamless shopping experience across various channels – they may want to check a product in-store, place an order online, and have it picked up for warranty service from home.

Besides, you also need to ensure consistent quality throughout all the stages of a purchase cycle. From the sales staff, operations, client service to maintenance, every team in charged needs to has the relevant customer information at their fingertips and can communicate efficiently with a customer.

One of the outstanding benefits of ERP implementation is that it provides a centralized communication tool across all departments. It gives employees access to a bird-eye view of all customer information, from the first point of contact to the latest activity. Thus, when a customer calls for a warranty request or additional orders, the employee can quickly check the customer’s transaction history, preferences, service history, etc. Therefore, he can provide more personalized and dedicated support to satisfy the customer.

Besides, the length of time that customers have to spend to receive responses also matters. As ERP helps streamline the operation process, this can help to improve the speed of customer service and lead to more happy customers.

Cut operational costs

All businesses regardless of scale or industry always want to reduce business costs while improving efficiency. Any business owner always targets to getting more work done with lower costs, that means business growth and profit optimization.

ERP implementation can improve intercommunication between departments across the business. Thus, more effective communication can lead to increased worker productivity and improved collaboration. Therefore, more tasks are done with less time and costs.

Moreover, an ERP system works to bring all management aspects of the business under one roof. You can have an overview of the whole business efficiency with a few clicks, unprofitable areas and cut down on waste can be clearly visible.

Most Valuable Features of an ERP solution

ERP systems combine customize packs of attributes to meet the various clients’ needs. Besides, an ERP system is modular, allowing companies to select the pieces that suit their requirements. Each module covers a major business process. ERP applications normally should be able to stand alone, be implemented together, or integrate with the larger suite.

Below are some key features to integrate into your future ERP solution:

Human Resources (HR)

Employee management is vital to the strategic development of businesses. A proper HR management can contribute to enhancing employee satisfaction and productivity. Besides, with the current tide of teleworking, it is more crucial to invest more in technology to support HR management to ensure the engagement and performance of staff.

The HR component of an ERP system should be able to handle the full scope of employee management. It may feature:

• Online check-in and check-out for remote working
• Leaves tracking
• Timesheet
• Payroll management
• Recruitment management
• Performance reviews
• Training management system

Payroll software is the biggest feature you need to include into your ERP system. It can be integrated with the financial management modules to accurately handle wages, travel expenses, reimbursements, and tax and benefits deductions. The functionality helps automate the payments process and reduce the load of your HR officers.

Financial Management

The application stores, monitors, and analyzes the company’s financial data. And, it turns all financial tasks like facilitates payroll, budgeting, billing, and banking operations into clicks. The tools may include:

• Manage and organize accounting and finance transactions like expenditures, bank reconciliation, tax management, and payments;
• An overview of cost analyses, budgets, and insights;
• Financial reports for the departments and business units

Financial management modules can also help manage and improve cash flow, reduce operational costs, and optimize profitability. Meanwhile, managers can access to accurate and real-time reports quickly. Ensure that you will choose the right ERP solution with financial features that can meet financial reporting and tax requirements with a single accounting, banking, and payment system.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

With a potent ERP system, your salespeople and marketing planners can access to data to address customer needs, preferences, and buying patterns more efficiently and suggest additional purchases. The CRM module will allow you to track leads, their purchase history, and their reaction to your marketing activities. Therefore, you can gain data-driven insights that can help optimize your sales and marketing efforts.

Businesses can have access to relevant and real-time information for the best-prepared proposals, follow leads, and monitor the status of contracts.  Besides, it can help automatically manage invoicing activities better. Therefore, that boosts customer experience and eventually profit per investment.

Sales and Marketing

This feature handles sales inquiries, quotations, sales orders, and sales invoices. You can opt to customize the module to include taxation rules and shipping tracker. Sales and CRM modules can work together to speed up the sales cycle and win more deals.

They also enable you to automatically monitor sales margins and to access synchronized reports of key business metrics. This useful function can alert you about what needs to change to foster more growth.

These are the popular and key features of ERP systems that cater to most enterprises’ processes at any scale and industry. However, you have no limit to customize and add more features to meet your unique needs. You can consult ERP experts for the best solution for your business.

Aréstos Odoo

Arestós – A trusted Odoo ERP developer in Hong Kong   

We are a 100% in-house team of top-tier business software development experts. Together, we build comprehensive ERP solutions based on the Odoo platform for businesses in across industries to help businesses to streamline management processes and achieve unmatched growth. Odoo ERP implementation is a long term journey on which we can accompany you with prompt support, transparent communications, and high-quality development standards.

Everything you need for a successful Odoo ERP implementation 

1. Dedicated Support: With our client-centric culture, you can rest in assurance with our always-on support during and after the project.
2. Senior Experts: Our highly qualified developers and project managers help you cater even the smallest element of your business operation
3. Unlimited Customization: We tailor customized Odoo solutions with the core focus on satisfying your most special needs without any limitation

Key benefits of Arestós Odoo ERP Solution

Odoo – The Most Powerful and Complete ERP Solution to streamline your operations and unleash growth

• All-in-one software: A single software that satisfies the needs of all departments in your organization
• Flexibility & Customization: You always can find an Odoo solution even for the most special requirement
• Cost-effective: Odoo is created for the purpose of helping you to save business cost for what really matters

Final Thoughts

Although an ERP solution seems to require a substantial investment, at the end of the day, it becomes the strategic dose for long-term and sustainable growth. ERP software has brought undeniable benefits to businesses such as drives efficiency, boosts productivity, reduces human error, increases profitability, and makes a business more competitive. You can’t ignore the necessity of ERP implementation while your competitors are reaping its multiple benefits.

Arestós has seen extensive benefits of implementing a custom-built system. We follow effective project management processes with a focus on the clients’ needs and to keep up with business growth. 

Contact Arestós now to adopt the most effective ERP solution and become the pioneer of your competition.