28 Aug ERP – Business Management Software
How and what is an ERP or Business Management Software? The acronym ERP comes from the Enterprise Resource Planning, but … what do these terms really mean?
An ERP is a software that manages and automates those practices associated with the management of a company, such as manufacturing, logistics, finance or human resources and allows us to create a simple flow of information between the different departments of a company.
Main objectives of an ERP
- Improvement in the optimization of business processes: the treatment of data allows to have a thorough knowledge of each of the departments of an organization, as well as to have a global vision of it.
- Quick and immediate access to information: an ERP allows us to obtain and work with a company’s data quickly, with immediate access from anywhere, thanks to the advantages offered by advances in mobility and the cloud.
- Shared information: eliminates the isolation silos of the different departments of a company so that they work collaboratively and centrally.
What are its advantages?
The main advantage of an ERP is that it is designed to integrate and optimize all the processes and circuits that a company may have. This avoids the use of third applications and all the information is centralized in a single data entry. This also prevents errors due to manual data entry and duplication.
Also, an ERP is modular. This means that it treats your company as a set of teams that interrelate with each other sharing information and processes. In addition, as each company has specific needs, it is possible to incorporate and install certain features as your company grows.
You can start for example with a simple circuit that includes the financial department and purchases and sales, and in a few months or years incorporate stock and warehouse management. The ERP can grow at your pace. There are ERPs in which each module is licensed individually and there are other ERPs in which all functionality is already included in the license price.
An ERP business management system is highly configurable and adaptable, and incorporates high-level programming tools that allow the partner to develop the customizations required by the client. In addition, advances in programming make it easier to integrate the ERP with third-party applications that you are already using in your day to day and which you do not want to do without.
ERP systems are occasionally called backoffice because they indicate that the client and the general public do not have access to it. Despite this denomination, all the processes of an ERP are those that allow a company to deal directly with suppliers and offer an optimal service to its customers.
ERP systems typically handle circuits such as production, logistics, distribution, inventory, shipments, invoices and accounting. However, business resource planning or ERP software can intervene in the control of many business activities such as sales, opportunity management, CRM, deliveries, payments, quality of administration and human resources management, among many others.
How is an ERP different from other business software??
- It is modular, ERP converts your company into a set of departments interrelated by the information they share, and that is generated from their respective processes. This is an economic and technical advantage, because the functionality is divided into modules, which can be implemented according to customer requirements and enable future growth in functionality within the ERP.
- It is adaptable, the ERP can be configured through developments in the software code for example, to control inventories it is possible that a company needs to manage the partition of lots but another company does not. Those processes or cases that escape the product standard can be materialized thanks to custom developments. In this sense, ERPs incorporate fourth generation programming tools for the rapid development of new processes. It is important to study how the developments are planned and how they will be carried out so that they do not affect and lead to future version migrations.
A specialized ERP such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central provides agile solutions for all areas of the company, regardless of the complexity of the processes to be automated. In addition, Microsoft ensures that the product is constantly evolving and incorporates version after version of the hottest news in Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, etc.
Do not forget that Dynamics 365 Business Central is the leading ERP for SMEs throughout Europe, so it has already proven over the years that it solves the main problems of companies and helps them in their day to day. In contrast, a generic accounting software only offers a low percentage of effectiveness in a specific area of the company.
Finally, if you are looking for a specialized ERP for certain sectors such as health, logistics, food, retail, among others; This is where you should consider using Business Central, which will meet all your needs.
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