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Cloud ERP can boost every part of your small business
As AI creeps into more aspects of our lives, many SMEs wonder whether they’ll be left behind? With the bewildering speed of change it’s easy to feel the need to adopt every new tech as it emerges. The reality? Doing so can actually set a business back.
Often the best way forward is to use technology that can optimise your operations, such as cloud based ERP. That’s because many small businesses have grown organically, adding software and processes as needs crop up. Perhaps you use MYOB AccountRight for your books, other software for inventory or time and customer management, plus a couple of spreadsheets for project management and sales. While that may solve immediate individual issues, it creates new issues in the long run. You require your systems to talk to each other so you might have complicated and buggy integrations or a lot of manual data entry. An ERP solves this issue. Data goes into, and is accessed, from the same place which boosts every department as well as your overall growth trajectory.
Which departments benefit from ERP?
An ERP works by sitting across your business, it won’t just benefit your accounts department. Each department works with the same data in the same system, so cross-departmental processes can happen faster or even automatically. Here are some business areas you’ll optimise with cloud ERP.
Business operations
Most smaller businesses are running without a centralised view of their operations. This means you’re making decisions based on guesswork, not real data. As you grow, this lack of visibility will become more and more problematic – you’ll find you spend a lot of time analysing spreadsheets, still under or overspend, and miss opportunities to boost revenue, efficiency, and profit.
With all your departments feeding into a central ERP, you have the data you need to answer all your business questions. Better than this, great cloud ERP also has in-depth reporting and analytics baked in. It uses AI and machine learning tools to turn the data into actionable insight you can use to make critical improvements in your business.
Customer service and sales
To grow, you need to bring in new customers and keep the ones you’ve got. At the heart of every successful sales and service department is access to data, and that’s right at your fingertips with cloud ERP.
If you’re planning a sales or marketing push, you’ll see what worked in the past and what didn’t. You’ll also have the integration you need to automate time-consuming parts of the process, so nurturing warm leads is almost hands-off. When your team needs to speak to customers, the information is there in your customer relationship management functionality. Your team can see previous conversations, purchases and issues to offer a seamless experience and proactive upsells. When a customer calls with a question, your support team can give them accurate and up-to-date information.
Inventory and supplier management
An ERP system saves your inventory team time and gives them more control of logistics to make better decisions. Because the information lets them easily track their inventory, they can always see stock levels. You can even set up alerts about low stock levels.
The really clever bit? Having all that data means your ERP can forecast demand so you can get enough stock during peak times, avoid over-ordering, and optimise the way you manage your warehouses. With your finger on your inventory button, you’ll also have the information you need to keep suppliers updated – a key part of keeping your relationships sweet, avoiding penalties, and getting the best deals.
Accounting and finance
MYOB Acumatica makes things much simpler for your accounts department. Instead of spending half their days generating reports in a spreadsheet (and then fixing the inevitable errors), they can simply click a button. Similarly, functions like payroll, accounts receivable and payable, expenses and cash-flow management mostly happen automatically. This frees time to invest in more value-add activities, negotiating better supplier agreements, optimising tax positions, forecasting and preparing for business growth.
Field teams
If you have people working out of the office, you know it can cause huge admin mistakes and miscommunication, impacting your profits, customer experience and repeating business. Great ERP will have field service management functionality built-in, making it easy to schedule work, keep track of projects, and track everything from contracts and equipment warranties to policy compliance. If your ERP is designed to be used on mobile, staff can update information on the spot instead of saving scraps of paper to input later.
Choose simplicity
While ERP functionality is powerful and complex, a great platform will feel seamless – it should make people’s lives easier, even if they’re not tech-savvy. Otherwise, you’ll find they’ll revert to the manual workarounds they’re familiar with.
MYOB Acumatica considers ease of use alongside the functionality itself, solving problems instead of creating new ones. Role specific access is a great example, with the setup of user-friendly dashboards for each role type, allowing easy access to the information they need. MYOB Acumatica is so intuitive that many people pick it up as they use the tool, integrating simply with your client, or supplier, software.
Automation is the new delegation
It bears repeating. These days, organisations should be swapping delegation for automation, bringing business together under one digital roof with an ERP system. It boosts efficiency, decision-making and productivity in every department, and is the secret to putting your SME on a growth trajectory.
Learn more about how MYOB Acumatica helps SMEs achieve the next growth stage.
