Introduction
A business is mentioned as Big only by its volume of transactions, operating at multiple locations, Different people playing different roles, the complexity involved in coordination, and reconciliation of logs, Other than these rest all the business processes and requirements are same for all sizes of companies be it Big or Small.
Everybody follows the same process and cycle for all these key business functions: sales, purchase, accounting, inventory, taxation, salaries, etc.
Hence ERP (Enterprise resource planning) is essential for any type of business irrespective of their operating volume so that a business owner can have a bird’s eye view that will help in understanding the gaps, challenges and obstacles in their business, based on which they can derive insights on what they should focus on – to take their business to the next level of growth.
What stops Small and Medium Business Owners to implement ERP?
- Lack of Awareness (You have to be in Current Trend to sustain in the market)
- Even today many Small and Medium Business owners are not aware of this solution called ERP which will bring more value to their business and make them work more efficiently.
- In some scenarios even if the business owner is having awareness it is becoming very difficult to convince all the stakeholders of the business who are actually going to use the ERP system in their day to day activities since they are very much used to the traditional way of doing things manually which will also bring results but comparatively very much lower than a system and process would do in longer run
- High Implementation Cost (See it as an Investment not an Expense)
- Many Business owners are not investing in developing their own ERP system which will cost them few lakhs in upfront before seeing the results
- Also to maintain and scale the system they need a professional developer or a company to take care of it.
- Employee Resistance (If communicated and implemented properly this challenge can be resolved in a few weeks)
- An ERP implementation brings major changes within the organization. ERP systems bring a systematic workflow and a strict work environment. This in turn can make the employees panicked and resistant against the change.
What Small and Medium Businesses are actually losing for not implementing ERP into their organization?
Some of the advantages of starting early with an ERP:
- In smaller companies the implementation is easier as the number of people involved are lower.
- Time and effort involved for training are lower as it’s simpler to put a lesser number of people to adapt to a way of working.
- Having defined processes and ways of working improves productivity.
- Centralised data is available for all departments and functions.
- Same data being shared across departments is reliable, easier to manage and time saving.
- Reconciliation of data is not required.
- With processes in place, expanding and involving more people is much simpler.
- You get the competitive edge when you have all your business processes in place and accurate data available from a reliable ERP software.
- For companies with inventory it’s better monitoring as expanding inventory levels are very expensive. This in turn leads to better planning and resource management.
- The return on investment is much higher in an upcoming organisation as the above points fall in place and make it easier for you to expand your business.
Conclusion
An ERP implementation is aimed at achieving operational efficiency by streamlining business processes, and driving up productivity and reducing cost. Despite all the challenges and Barriers you have today, ERP implementation can make a significant difference for the company. It can improve the functionality and resolution of the business. Visible benefits might take time to show but it is a positive investment towards the growth of SMEs.
If you wish to Develop your own custom ERP software and implement it in your business. We are happy to help you out. Please do reach us at info@dqubeglobal.com or call +91-7092969091.
