Upgrading your company’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is undoubtedly a significant investment. But as many businesses who’ve made the shift to ERP-driven operations can attest, it’s well worth the cost. An ERP allows an organization to integrate, monitor, and control all its activities in a single platform. Having access to this complex tool will enable your business to make well-informed decisions in the digital age. This capability, in turn, will give your company the means to consistently keep up with its competitors and reach new heights.
Given the resources that your business will dedicate to acquiring and adopting an ERP program like SAP Business One, you’re probably eager to fully utilize the platform and drive up your revenues. Here are some tips that will help you immediately maximize your return on investment (ROI) from this new business tool.
Give Your Employees Enough Time to Get Used to the New Platform
An ERP performs many functions, and one of these is easing the workload of your staff members. The key to maximizing the ROI of your new ERP system lies in ensuring that your staff members have mastered the platform and that they truly understand how it makes their jobs easier.
Admittedly, this is a step that requires a bit of time and training. But you can speed up this process by working with your ERP provider and jointly giving your staff members high-quality training sessions on how to use the platform’s features. Aside from training your existing employees on how to maximize the use of your ERP, you can also hold training sessions for new hires so they can also use the platform effectively from the get-go.
It’s also a good idea to check if your ERP provider has a helpline that employees can use whenever they’re having issues with the system. Having this continuing business relationship with your ERP provider will give your employees easy access to expert assistance whenever they encounter an issue or whenever they want to explore one of the system’s many functions. When more than one person becomes adept at handling the ERP features and can use it to boost their own productivity, your company will be well on its way to earning back its ROI.
Check for Aspects of the User Interface That Can Benefit from Simplification
It’s important for new ERP clients to know that implementing an ERP system is not a one-time deal. This program is specifically designed to be used by your business, so it has to be customized to meet the particular needs of the company. This inevitably requires a bit of back and forth between your business and your ERP provider.
Among the concerns that should be raised during this process is whether the user interface that your employees will use is as simple as it can be without sacrificing functionality. You and your ERP provider can do this by ensuring that the digital working environment for each major function that the ERP is expected to fulfill is easily accessible to particular users. For example, a cashier in a chain store should be able to switch between completing transactions, checking the branch’s inventory, and reviewing its performance in a click of a button.
Communicating this need to your company’s ERP provider and addressing it immediately will allow your employees to maximize the use of the platform, reduce the average time it takes to complete a transaction, and improve staff productivity. The easier an ERP is to use, the more time employees will spend using it correctly, and the faster you’ll be at maximizing your ROI.
Integrate Your ERP System to Cloud So It Can Be Used in Various Work Setups
Using an ERP system in a cloud-based environment is another way to maximize this product and lower its implementation and maintenance costs. By having your ERP platform available on the cloud, you can ensure that the members of your organization will be able to fully utilize the program no matter where they are. This is especially important now that remote work is becoming a more common practice.
A cloud-based ERP system is accessible to just about anyone with the right credentials or authorization from the system. That makes it an indispensable tool if you have employees who are working from home or if the members of your team are based in other countries. Hosting your ERP system on the cloud will also help you minimize outages that can disrupt your business operations and income stream, which protects you from financial losses on top of helping you gain back returns.
Takeaway: The Value of Proper Implementation and Partnering with a Reliable ERP Provider
Your company will be able to quickly get back its ROI if the ERP system has been implemented properly. More often than not, you can expect a positive result if the process has the full support of the company’s decision-makers, the involvement of the employees who will use the system firsthand, and the existence of clearly defined goals and timelines.
On top of all these, you’ll need the practical assistance of an expert ERP provider to ensure the success of the implementation process. Choosing an ERP provider with whom your business can form a partnership has clear benefits, including having the ability to customize the program and maximizing it to get your investment back in no time. After all, your professional connection does not end as soon as the new ERP system has been rolled out.
If everything goes without a hitch, then you can hit the ground running. You’ll be able to start saving on costs, as well as welcoming fresh revenues, as soon as you start using your new ERP.
