THE current business landscape is as challenging to navigate as it is exciting. Fast-paced and tech-centered, it’s an environment survived by only the agile, characterized by increasing customer expectations, market fluctuations and growing global competition.

The key criteria to thrive is to create simplicity in the face of complexity. To become agile, businesses must minimize the disruption caused by change and progress.

And whilst growth is key, spectacular growth can be a double-edged sword for businesses ill-equipped to scale and streamline key processes.

Why? Because to accommodate growth, businesses need more resources. This can lead to different parts of your business functioning in isolation.

As your employees become less attached to the core of your business, they may begin to have less of an understanding of how their roles affect the bottom line, which could inadvertently result in unfavorable outcomes.

Fortunately, there is a solution in the form of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems.

These are fast-becoming the most sought-after applications for businesses worldwide, helping SMEs reduce costs while streamlining their processes to become smarter, stronger and more agile organizations.

Here are some examples of how exactly an ERP system will help your business thrive.

Streamline your business processes

As a business grows, daily operations will become more complicated.

An ERP system helps ease this complexity by breaking down department barriers. It offers greater transparency across departments, putting all available data in a single centralized location.

As a result, users can monitor the status of a job in real time, without having to rely on any individual or team.

In the case of a manufacturing company, a member of the design team can monitor the progress of production and then update the purchasing and accounts team about material requirements.

The result? Your processes become more efficient, productivity improves and customers are satisfied.

Increased data security

For businesses, the ability to share data across departments heightens collaboration, a key ingredient to drive growth.

While this sharing of data is necessary, it is crucial for managers to oversee which employees have access to what to mitigate the risk of compromised company data.

Fortunately, advanced ERP systems make it easy for you to warrant employee and manager access to only the processes relevant to their roles. This significantly reduces the risk of valuable data falling into the wrong hands.

But an ERP system does more than restrict access to specific roles. It facilitates the improved consistency, accuracy, and security of your data through the employment of a unified data source with a single input system.

Cost Reductions

By employing a unified system which allows omniscient oversight, your business saves costs on IT expenses involved in administration or managing support and infrastructure.

For manufacturers, a predominant barrier to decreasing expenses and optimizing efficiency is leftover and misused inventory. ERP software helps identify slow-moving inventory and then works to accelerate its time-to-market by finding new and quicker ways to deliver services and products.

Enhanced customer satisfaction

ERP systems enable businesses to plan production accurately, have enhanced control over inventory, streamline process scheduling, and coordinate distribution channels. As a result of this, manufacturers can improve their delivery of products, a critical metric of business performance.

The result of this is a system in place that ensures the maintenance of customer satisfaction.

With these benefits in mind, here are four industry-leading ERP systems designed to help streamline your business.

Monitor ERP

Monitor ERP’s software suite is designed specifically for the manufacturing industry, enabling small to medium-sized concerns to get a full grasp of their operations, right across the supply chain.

Having been developed over 40 years by Swedish engineers, the offering is built with an understanding of the language and particular pain-points in manufacturing management operations.

The complex mix of technology, people and systems which create manufacturing’s so-called “Industry 4.0” is a difficult basis on which to build an efficient environment with optimized processes.

Monitor ERP’s systems – which are hugely extensible by the addition of extra modules – are easy to implement and use on standard hardware, but are capable of managing and optimizing even the most complex of multi-party operations.

Business areas which are covered by Monitor ERP range through manufacturing, inventory, purchasing, sales, and accounts, and particular computing muscle can be added and directed in a number of specific areas, according to the type of organization and its present & future requirements. Among these are:

• Back-end functions such as document management, automated tasks, fixed asset registration.
• Customer and supplier management, including order transfers to production companies in the chain.
• Financial extensions to the base provisions, covering live exchange rate processes.
• C-Suite level reporting, including BI and SAP Crystal integration.
• Mobile overviews.
• Advanced inventory management and other warehouse oversight tools.

You can read more about Monitor ERP offerings in more detail here.

Plex Systems

With today’s manufacturing processes requiring more speed and efficiency than ever before, the need to incorporate technology to help manage all aspects of plant operations is proving to be crucial.

The Plex Manufacturing Cloud is a system that provides businesses with the visibility, transparency, and alignment needed to stay competitive. It automates the plant floor and helps the top floor:

Control the shop floor: Gain real-time visibility and control at the manufacturing moment.

Connect the business to everything: Streamline communication, collaboration, and connectivity.

Unlock the potential of people: With the help of the Plex Manufacturing Cloud, you can create an informed, engaged, and effective workforce.

Plex Systems solutions provide insights which start with customer orders and go beyond delivery. The company has designed its ERP solution from the ground up to connect suppliers, manage materials, control machines, and deliver business and accounting intelligence.

Plex ERP software is delivered on managed infrastructure and accessed through the internet, lowing costs and optimizing efficiency.

Additionally, the software offers total productivity. Plex presents customers with a complete and connected user experience with access to the Plex Manufacturing Cloud from any internet-connected PC, Mac, tablet, or smartphone.

Global Shop Solutions

Global Shop Solutions is a multi-modular application that comprises of independent sections for customer relationship management, inventory management, accounting, scheduling, job costing, and more.

The software aims to provide a simple way for its customers to understand how each area of their business is affecting the big picture. Businesses can choose to either subscribe to specific modules as per their requirements, or subscribe to a full-fledged ERP suite.

This ERP solution offers a real-time dashboard and reporting feature, enabling users to have full visibility on current jobs as well as scheduled operations.

With built-in CRM functionality, businesses can also leverage the system to identify new prospects, track opportunities, and process leads efficiently.

Moreover, the Global Shop Solution provides robust business intelligence capabilities for monitoring the health of the manufacturing system. It offers the ability to analyze business data in order to make valuable and important decisions.

This solution is seamlessly integrated with CAD and other engineering programs, allowing data to flow into your ERP software from the beginning stages of a project all the way to delivery.

Global Shop Solutions boasts over 41 years in the business with seven locations worldwide, making it a reputable solution to explore.

ECi solutions

ECi M1 is a subscription-based ERP system available to businesses either on-premise or via the cloud. The software seeks to help manufacturers grow through the integration of every facet of their business within a unified, robust system.

The solution streamlines essential daily processes, including inventory, accounting, purchasing, shipping and receiving. With real-time visibility into all aspects of the business, users are empowered to respond proactively as a problem arises.

The M1 solution also comprises of a range of business analysis and productivity tools, graphs, calendars, wizards, and other tools to increase your business efficiency.

ECi has a diverse range of customers from the growing to midsized-companies from the manufacturing industry including aerospace, automotive, high tech, furniture, and more.

With offices located across the USA, Australia, UK, and the Netherlands, ECi Software Solutions is a global software provider which provides a high level of service to customers, regardless of location.