Custom ERP system development: is it worth it?

The global ERP software market is expected to reap $47 billion in revenue from 2017 to 2022 at a CAGR of 7% (ERP Software Market 2018 Global Trends).

The more business becomes customer-oriented the higher the level of services and their speed and transparency are demanded. The only way to conform to such high requirements is to start or proceed with the digital transformation of your company to accelerate it within the whole field as it goes in logistics, retail, etc.

These market conditions stimulated to integrate more systematic enterprise resource planning and namely digital approaches. It drastically changed the strategies and operations of various companies that resulted in workflow optimization and the improvement of its results.

Explore ERP definition and types here.

When do you need custom ERP system?

However, it’s a complex system it doesn’t mean that the SME sector can’t benefit from it. The decisive point here is the evaluation of the efficiency of workforce efforts to handle routine and specific operations to keep the business on the appropriate level and their total productivity.

Surely there are multiple tools for CRM, accounting, etc. and classic approaches like Excel sheets to handle diverse company processes separately and an advanced system might not be a necessity. But if you started noticing the following signs it’s time to reconsider:

Unbalanced workflow

If routine activities are taking too much time leaving not enough time for more important projects it means that employees don’t have appropriate tooling to speed up the process.

Unorganized analytics

If you aren’t aware of all important metrics that measure your success and its potential on a regular basis it means that the processes aren’t properly set to provide reports timely.

Uncovered issues

If you feel that you can’t handle manually or with the current software some processes properly it means that used approaches don’t meet your business requirements.

Universality lack

If you see that some tasks like certain data entry are constantly repeated and ergo too time-consuming it’s a sign that the internal company system isn’t enough centralized.

Unused opportunities

If you have to work nights and weekends and still can’t move your business from your current point it’s time to optimize the workflow to be able to chase emerging possibilities.

Ready-made vs custom ERP system development: what to choose

The more scopes become data-driven the more off-the-shelf solutions appear to handle such a powerful flow. You can assume that on the market that is led by top international companies like Microsoft, Oracle and SAP you can find the perfect fit for your company.

However, the majority of available software is created with the focus on a large enterprise needs of certain scopes making the smaller business put significant efforts into their adjustment. Besides the more specific field, you represent than more likely you won’t find the required module to maintain the operations.

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