Is Small Business ERP Right for You?

Small businesses often face a dilemma in deciding how to invest in order to gain the greatest return. In pure startup mode, businesses must invest in an operational and efficient foundation that will directly help in building the company. That’s where small business ERP implementation comes into play.

Decision making is driven more by gut feeling rather than data and hard facts. These methods may be effective in early phases of the business, but once past that crucial startup phase, neglecting to invest can slow you down. Investing in appropriate ERP solutions (Enterprise Resource Planning) can significantly boost growth and profitability.

Hunting for small business ERP prices online is notoriously difficult. Most top vendors want to speak to their prospects first, then give a custom solution and price. That makes sense. But it also makes it very hard for small businesses to get an idea of affordability.

The truth is that there are affordable small business ERP solutions. Above all, proper implementation of such a solution will actually save money in the long run. Consider how much time and manpower you will save by choosing an ERP solution that will automate many of the tasks your employees currently perform with your current unsynchronized software. You will also be able to integrate your ERP with your other common office software, creating a more streamlined process which will in turn reduce the likelihood of costly errors in accounting.

Successful small and medium businesses often find themselves in the unique position of having a tremendous amount of data in a variety of formats without the personnel or resources to effectively process and analyze it. With the right small business ERP solutions in place, your business will have a better handle on daily functions and also have longer-term analysis and reports that will help your business grow and reach its full potential.

Nothing has a more significant impact on the long-term success or failure of your ERP system than the quality of ERP implementation. Done well, you’re more likely to experience a greater ROI (Return of Investment) in a much shorter time frame. If the implementation process was poorly executed, you could waste a lot of time and money without ever seeing any advantages. That being said, you need to evaluate the total cost of ownership (TCO) for your chosen ERP. It’s this figure that you need to budget for and to measure your ROI against.

Just as importantly, ERP allows a measure of efficiency and control over your business that is not possible to achieve otherwise. Without ERP, often business is managed through spreadsheets, manual processes and paper, possibly augmented with disparate business applications such as stand-alone accounting software, typically based on older closed architectures that limit interoperability.

A well executed ERP implementation can enable change and provide ongoing savings that can help you sustain and grow your business. Not only will you be operating at a competitive advantage, but you can incur major growth and profitability․

To learn more about ERP and if it’s the right step for your business, speak with one of our experts! You can reach us at +1 818-484-5004 or email us at sales@biz-techservices.com. Or, read about what we offer on our Acumatica and Sage 100 pages.