What is ERP?

ERP gives your organization the tools you need to knock down the silos that prevent you from seeing your company’s big picture. Instead of just one application, ERP software provides an entire toolkit of resources and applications — some of which you’ll use every day and some you’ll only use in specific situations.

One way to illustrate ERP is by comparing it to Microsoft Office. Most business-level users are familiar with Word, Excel, PowerPoint. Some people use specific Microsoft Office tools like Publisher and Teams. Finally, there’s an even smaller group of people who use advanced Microsoft Office tools like Access. While you may have all these tools in your Microsoft Office “toolkit,” not everyone uses them equally across your organization. ERP applications are organized similarly to Microsoft Office applications.

ERP providers, like High Touch, can help customize the tools within your ERP software toolkit, teach you how to use them, and in our case, create custom tools that integrate with other essential applications that your organization depends on. Learn more about ERP software solutions.

When properly configured, ERP centralizes your siloed, company-wide data into a single interface. Different areas of your business use more specific applications within the ERP platform to accomplish tasks that rely on your business’s data. The particular components included in your company’s ERP platform will depend on your industry, technology capabilities, and, most importantly, your bottom-line business goals.

Examples of operations typically included within business ERP solutions include:

1. Improve your business processes.

Stop comparing apples to oranges, and start comparing apples to apples. ERP gives your business the tools to assess its critical data from an enterprise level. With this data knowledge, you can make smarter decisions and process improvements that benefit the bottom-line health of the entire organization, rather than making improvements based on gut feelings one business unit at a time.

2. Understand what’s important to your business.

Many organizations, no matter the size, struggle with siloed data. Instead of asking multiple stakeholders for data, ERP software organizes your company-wide data transparently, helping you understand what your business needs to do to grow and increase its profitability.

3. Improve financial performance.

At its core, ERP’s primary function is to help you meet your business’s financial goals. When you have all your business’s financial and operational data in one place, you have a more transparent view of your company’s financial performance. ERP gives you the tools you need to understand performance and uncover new efficiencies.

4. Improve individual business units to achieve enterprise-sized goals.

Looking at pieces of your organization’s data independently causes blind spots. ERP provides a holistic view of your company’s data and performance. You may realize that individual stakeholders are reporting the same metrics differently or that you need to adjust KPIs to better achieve your overall organizational goals. ERP can also streamline how individual units are reporting data and how data flows across the organization.

5. Gain flexibility.

With cloud-based ERP, you can securely access your data anytime, anywhere, on any device. With certain ERP solutions, like Acumatica, licensing is provided at an enterprise level rather than by individual users, so you can grow your business without having to worry about increasing licensing fees across all departments and roles. Modern ERP systems also have very minimal hardware requirements outside individual laptops and desktops.

6. Ensure employee’s time is valued.

By providing workflow management, productivity, and organization-wide improvement tools with ERP software, you can create and support a better culture for your employees. ERP allows you to establish and manage expectations for employees in line with company-wide objectives. When properly configured, ERP also helps cut down on many manual tasks that waste employee time and resources.

7. Make it easier for leaders to lead.

With transparent data and reports, leaders can better understand their own expectations and encourage their teams. ERP gives you the data you need to set and adjust deadlines, KPIs, and expectations to promote growth within the company’s objectives.

Microsoft Dynamics

High Touch is a full-scale Microsoft Dynamics partner specializing in implementing, supporting, customizing, and managing Microsoft Dynamics GP and Microsoft Dynamics SL. As a technology partner, High Touch can help create custom reports that enhance the Microsoft Dynamics accounting package. Additionally, High Touch can engineer custom software solutions and integrate Microsoft Dynamics with other applications critical to your business’s operational and accounting needs.

Acumatica

Acumatica is a cloud-based SaaS ERP software platform that secures your financial, management, and operational tools in one convenient package. Using Acumatica, businesses can streamline their ERP, accounting, and CRM processes through one single solution.

High Touch has been helping businesses grow and succeed using ERP software for over 20 years. Contact us to learn more about the ERP, Microsoft Dynamics, and Acumatica software solutions that can help make things easier for your business.