Implementing ERP? Here’s How To Gain Competitive Advantage With It

by Rob Stephen getaprogrammer

While ERP has been dominating the business world tremendously by providing an all-in-one management software system, here this article will explain to you how implementing it can help you gain a competitive advantage in the long run.

While the business environment is getting fierce day by day, the challenge arising for the entrepreneurs is how to beat the competition. However, ERP came as the major saviour by providing them with a complete business management solution to take care and manage end to end processes in the business. Consequently, with automated control and streamlined processes, enterprises are saving up tremendous time and manual efforts which resultantly give way for more productivity. However, joining the game of ERP to gain a competitive advantage is not that simple and you need to optimise your ERP solution in an appropriate way for that.

In the following points below are mentioned some ways to ensure that your ERP is optimally designed and developed for attaining competitive advantage.

Pick and customise the ERP in the right way

Opting ERP has become a hot trend among the businesses with some even going for it without actually knowing why they need. So, when you are going to get your ERP solution implemented, make sure you have enough reasons for it and it is not going to be a liability but an asset of your business. Evaluate and analyse your operations in detail to determine the functionalities that you need in your ERP and if you’re fortunate enough to have great software vendor, get your ERP custom-made for your business.

ERP that offers value to employees

Don’t ever misinterpret that your ERP will be the wonder solution that will automatically help you attain greater productivity. While every level of automation will need some amount of manpower, ERP will give the real power to the organisation’s employees. However, for that, you need to ensure that they are comfortable with the software tool and thereby imparting formal training is a requisite for you while you are considering ERP implementation.

Leaping ahead with the risk factors

You cannot get much ahead with the ERP solution without taking some conscientious risks. While there are few aspects in ERP, including which will keep you in better-off position than your peers, there are risks associated with them too, like software crash and technical glitches. So, you should be pretty calculative and careful while considering those risk-evolved functions. While in the worst case, your implementation may fail and need reimplementation, in the best case the functions that others have still not added in their ERP will make you more competitive.

Proper planning and execution

Needless to say, the best of results from the ERP solution can be obtained by a business when it’s every aspect, from planning to execution are in line with the business needs. It is necessary to make the ERP work for your processes and not against them. So, make sure that your ERP comes with advanced scheduling and planning modules to support end-to-end methods in your business.

Winning an edge over your competition will be easy if you can find a right ERP software and over everything implement it in the way that will give the best outcomes. However, to ensure that your ERP implementation approach is solely focussing on gaining of cutting-edge competition instead of just replacing your old legacy software, you need prior consultation with ERP consultants who have rich knowledge and understanding of ERP customisation to contribute to industry-specific solutions.

Johan Smith is an expert Odoo ERP consultant in Australia who is associated with GetAProgrammer, a pioneered software solutions provider and independent Odoo ERP implementation partner that serves diverse industries with robust tailor-made ERP solutions.