| Recently there appears to be an increased | | | | auditable accounting. |
| amount of interest in Enterprise Resource Planning | | | | - Reduce Operating Cost. |
| (ERP). Originally adopted by manufacturing | | | | - Facilitate day to day management. |
| organizations, its main focus was for the | | | | - Eliminate data silos by creating a single, |
| management and control of inventory. Since then | | | | centralized repository of timely, accurate business |
| the functional scope of ERP solutions has grown, | | | | data. |
| and as a result so have the benefits and adoption | | | | - Enable more effective resource allocation and |
| by other industry verticals within the wholesale | | | | management. |
| and distribution segment, including those within | | | | Whilst these benefits mentioned are significant |
| small and medium enterprises (SMEs). | | | | they are only true benefits to a business if the |
| Typically organizations juggle several different | | | | ERP model is a good fit for the company. A |
| business applications to manage the intricacies of | | | | particularly good fit is for companies that need to |
| their business. But now businesses understand | | | | formalize their business processes and activates |
| that they need to stop wasting resources | | | | across multiple departments. These companies |
| managing these multiple "silo" systems and | | | | are generally trying to deal with multiple versions |
| improve visibility for better decision making via a | | | | of the truth across the business due to their |
| single centralized seamless system. | | | | disparate systems. This prevents managers from |
| Most ERP solutions contain a range of modules to | | | | making good business decisions. An ERP solution |
| improve a variety of back-office functions, | | | | can help enforce good business processes and |
| including: | | | | consolidate the information to provide an accurate |
| - Financials & Accounting: includes functionality | | | | cross departmental picture of the "state of the |
| such as general ledger, cash management, | | | | nation". |
| accounts payable and receivable, and fixed asset | | | | When considering an ERP solution it is advisable to |
| management. | | | | consider a single vendor solution that provides the |
| - Time & billing: includes features for billing | | | | flexibility and modularity of adopting the different |
| invoicing, time and expense management, and | | | | ERP functional areas. Implementing ERP within a |
| Project/Job monitoring. | | | | company also comes with a need for a cultural |
| - Supply Chain Management: includes management | | | | change within the organization. A 'lets do it all |
| around Inventory and Order Fulfillment. | | | | now', otherwise known as a 'big bag' approach can |
| - Employee Management and Productivity: Human | | | | be a far too overwhelming transition and difficult |
| Resource Management, Employee Activity | | | | to manage. Just like any software implementation |
| Management and Administration. | | | | the solution will only be as good as the people |
| At a high-level some benefits that can be | | | | that use it so user adoption is critical. When |
| expected from implementing an ERP system | | | | evaluating ERP solutions it is just as important to |
| includes: | | | | consider the quality of professional services |
| - Improve decision making & strategic | | | | provided by the vendor just as much as the core |
| planning. | | | | solution capabilities. The successful delivery and |
| - Improve productivity with greater visibility and | | | | adoption of an ERP into a company will enable the |
| more automated back-office processes. | | | | solution to perform to its full potential and provide |
| - Ensure accountability and compliance with | | | | great results. |