If you are not a tech-savvy entrepreneur, Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP can sound intimidating. But it is one tool that will save your time, money, and sanity. Because the truth is that as your business grows, so is your database. Let alone your customer data. You also have to keep an eye on your raw materials, employee expenses, travel costs, and more.
Data is not easy to manage. For example, you can’t keep data only for one department to access it. And it gets complicated when you have to track who can access what.
What is Enterprise Resource Planning?
While it seems complicated, it simply means that you can manage your data and communicate it smoothly with the other departments in your company. For example, let’s say your customer wants to order something from your e-commerce website. They asked you for a specific color or size.
It turns out that your product is out of stock. Therefore, the sales department has to tell your production team that they need to produce the product to cover the demands. Unfortunately, there was an unforeseen shortage of raw materials. Therefore, production has to be pushed back since you need to procure the raw materials.
Now, let’s have another scenario. You may have enough materials, but there is few human resources to keep up with the demand. The HR does not know the need for more human resources since this was not communicated to the Human Resource Department immediately. Hiring staff and training them will take too much time so that the production will be pushed back.
All these troubles could have been avoided if you have enterprise resource planning. It helps you centralize your data and share it with other departments. No department can stand alone and run your retail business. You need to share the data across the departments to continue running the business smoothly.
It is natural to think that ERP solutions are only for big companies. However, ERP solutions are convenient for retail businesses since it has a wide range of products sold to numerous customers. May it be food, grocery, hardware tools, gadgets, or home appliances, you need a way to organize your costs, productions, and sales.
How ERP Helps Retail Industry Amid the Changing Customer Behavior
There is a steady increase in the number of consumers who now prefer shopping online. With the ease of access to the internet with the use of smartphones, tablets, and desktops, people with buying power can now shop anytime, anywhere. They buy from social media marketplaces, websites, and shopping apps.
Companies that fail to adapt to change struggle to keep their business afloat. Consumers expect to find services and products in just a few taps on their devices. They are now used to getting anything as quickly as possible. When the demand increases, it’s hard to keep track of everything to run your organization smoothly and keep your customers happy.
If your business has various channels to bring optimum shopping experience, an ERP will automate the navigation for you. The data becomes accessible to your employees and lets them make well-informed data-driven decisions as quickly as possible.
Take advantage of centralized data that various departments can use to make evaluations and decisions instantaneously.
Without an ERP, internal miscommunication, inconsistent KPI management, and disorganized interfaces will wreck your business process. You will be unable to meet customer expectations as your service will become slow and inconsistent.
What to Look for in an ERP
Financial Management
Let your accounts team manage your company’s overall budget planning the most efficient way. Profit tracking is made easy with accessible financial health and sources. In addition, since your financial data is well-organized, it prevents fraud and internal fraud.
Inventory Management
Centralize your warehouse functions so you can monitor the productions, product history, stock levels, shipping, and order management. As a result, you can customize your pricing, manage returns and even enjoy the advanced multi-channel sales support.
Customer Relationship Manager
From marketing to sales order, consistently high-quality customer service will help your business grow. You can view customers across your products, the accounts, status, and even geography.
Best ERP Systems Every Retail Business Should Consider in 2021
Here are some ERP systems that you can consider for your retail business to help you scale without a hitch.
Microsoft Dynamics NAV
Whether you are a small or medium-sized retail company, Microsoft Dynamics NAV lets you plan and manage your resources to reduce operational costs. Simplify your manufacturing and supply chain for your employees to navigate smoothly through your business operations. If you prefer Microsoft in Philippines, NTT DATA can help you set up your ERP.
You can opt for Microsoft Dynamics 365 if you want your CRM and ERP to work seamlessly across operations, marketing, financials, customer service, and sales.
Power BI
Power Bi is a cost-effective Business Intelligence with comprehensive Analytics services. Business insights can be overwhelming. However, if you have great BI tools, you can collect raw data, organize it, and restructure it into usable info. ERM includes sales metrics, conversion rates, employee quotas, customer behavior, demographics, and social media interactions.
Focus 9
Another ERP is the Focus 9 software. It is a web-based ERP system that connects your departments with centralized data. You can respond to customer inquiries quickly as it combines the various workforce in all departments. Add to that, you can manage quality control, project management, warehouse management, shipping, and distribution.
ERP systems may be costly, but it is an excellent investment if you want to scale your business with less hassle. All of its functions lead to customer satisfaction since your data is managed with proper treatment of analytics. Depending on your specific industry, solutions and systems will help you grow your company.
