Most businesses start out with a heavy reliance on manual processes, excel sheets and a bunch of isolated software. As time goes on, they move on to accounting and bookkeeping software (like QuickBooks for example).

If things go well, there comes a time when the business starts to outgrow manual processes and basic bookkeeping software. This is when many find themselves looking for something better, something faster, something more automated.

If you find your business at this juncture, it is important to ask the right questions. Whether or not a full-fledged ERP system is the right choice for you depends on how you answer them. Does it makes sense to make a significant investment right now for long term ROI? To what extent would more automation reduce costs? Is managing and analysing data starting to become impossible? Are you planning to expand to multiple locations?

Here are 7 signs that investing in an ERP system may be the right choice for you:

1. You rely heavily on manual processes: Over-reliance on spreadsheets, manual data entry and other manual processes slows you down and causes inefficient data capture and management.

2. Your inventory management has gaps: Without an efficient ERP system, chances are that there are a lot of human errors in inventory management. Inaccurate inventory leads to inefficient production, losses and all-round poor operations.

3. Your costing is inaccurate: Ascertaining the cost of a product/service is usually a complex process based on many data points about materials, time, volume, margins, etc. Keeping track of each element in the production/delivery process is vital for accurate real-time costing.

4. Your business lacks integration: As businesses grow, so do the number of software and systems they need. Typically, this leads to a number of isolated silos, where different parts of a business are unable to speak to each other. An efficient ERP system can make sure this doesn’t happen with custom integrations.

5. You use many different software: Many businesses use different software for accounting, reporting, CRM, HRM, SCM, Marketing, etc. This leads to poor integration, high costs of ownership and lots of time wasted on data consolidation. A good ERP system is meant to within one solution and thus, solves these issues.

6. You lack insightful data: Over-reliance on manual data management and tracking means you don’t have immediate and easy access to important KPIs, dashboards and analytics. ERP systems are great at making insightful data accessible.

7. Your accounting team is unhappy: Accounting teams are often the first to suggest upgrading to an ERP system. Paper-based invoices and sales/purchase orders take too long to manually enter into a system and financial reporting turns into a painful process involving an infinite number of spreadsheets.

If you relate to these signs, the next step for you might be to explore how a full-fledged ERP system can create long-term value for your business. At SoftArt, we help businesses explore if and how, an ERP system can create value for them.