ERP software development: Present and Future

Article source: ERP software development: Present and Future

It‘s a popular misconception that ERP software is a system related to enterprise-level business. Do you know how many small-size businesses are using this software? It has been found out that 65% of small businesses are availing the services of ERP consultants.

Irrespective of their capital investment, businesses are adopting ERP software solutions to manage the different processes of the organization. This blog is written with the intent to answer all your queries related to ERP software.

At first, let us understand the basic meaning and application of this software. This system consists of a range of software components which are known as modules. This software is focussing on the core processes of your business.

It integrates all the processes of a business that one can think about. To name a few they are supply chain management, human resources, customer relationship management, inventory, accounting, finance, production, and materials management.

The ERP systems are based on the centralized relational database. The business information is collected and stored in tables by this database. The various departments like sales, finance, and others can get easy access to the required information at the time of analysis. Your departments are the end-users of the information which is stored centrally.

This reduces the workload upon the people with many folds. Your employees will not have to maintain and manage their own spreadsheets. In a way, this system is capable of automating your processes.

A single centralized system will be capable of creating reports wherein you can update information related to HR, CRM and others in one ERP module. This information is shared with other modules from the central database.

ERP systems can be beneficial for your business in many ways. Possibly this is the reason that the ERP software market in the Asia Pacific is estimated to reach US dollars 9.77 billion by 2020. Let’s discuss the pros and cons of using an ERP system in a business.

Advantages of ERP systems #1: Saves cost

By deploying an ERP system, the cost of resources and time will decrease incredibly. I agree that initial investment in ERP systems is high but it reduces later on as companies use these systems for the long term.

In case, instead of ERP systems, you spend money on different systems for the various departments, it will cost you more. When systems are centralized, it saves even the IT cost on which ERP systems are dependent.

Advantages of ERP systems #3: Complete Transparency

Every department’s data is easily accessible to all without any discrepancies. It is made available to the lower as well as senior management. For instance, your inventory is in transition and the workforce is inventory management is keeping a constant track record of the same.

How will you get to know about the control level? Through ERP systems, you can keep a check on the working capital in a more efficient manner. This improves the transparency of the overall processes of the business. Moreover, it makes your organization more connected horizontally as well as vertically.

Advantages of ERP systems #3: Complete customization

The biggest advantage of ERP systems is that it can be customized according to the specific business needs. They can be implemented according to your needs with the help of hired software developers.

Your company gets the liberty to select the ERP system’s components that suit the best for your company. The software can be implemented through two types of deployments like through the cloud and on-premise.

Advantages of ERP systems #4: Improves efficiency

When something removes the repeated manual practices and processes, it reduces the risk of inaccuracy. When machines start to replace humans, it adds to the efficiency and brings perfection. Here you can see in the graph that improvement in business performance is the major reason behind implementing ERP by businesses.

This lowers the burden on your team members. They can now concentrate on revenue-generating tasks. This allows the organization people to adopt new and innovative practices to deliver the best performance.

Advantages of ERP systems #5: Enhances customer services

Through ERP systems, the information and all the required data of clients are centralized. This allows better possibilities to improve the customer service attribute if your company. Hence, the sales team will focus more on customer satisfaction rather than wasting time in creating spreadsheets.

Customer retention is the most important aspect of any business organization. If ERP software can look after this aspect of the business process, a lot of burden decreases. Gone are the days when companies were known for delayed customer services and the major credit to this goes to ERP system installation.

The benefits of this system have made it alive and dynamic industry for ERP development. There are various trends that contribute to changes in the upcoming years. Let’s read about the various trends in ERP development.

Future of ERP development #trend1: Entry of Blockchain

Blockchain is a trending technology that provides a centralized data storage facility that is highly secure and uneditable. It has been adopted and embraced by many industries. It is also expected to rule in the ERP software development.

Many organizational functions can be made more efficient with the help of blockchain. The integration of ERP systems with blockchain increases the credibility of these systems. The blockchain development companies can help you in this beneficial integration seamlessly.

Future of ERP development #trend2: Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence has entered into various processes of businesses already. Its subsets like machine learning and deep learning help in providing, collecting and analyzing the vast data.

The integration of these technologies with ERP software provides systems that are replacing human needs. The robotic process automation (RPA) is also becoming popular along with chatbots development services which reduce the cost of the company as well as its services.

Future of ERP development #trend3: Cloud ERP solutions

Not only ERP but many software platforms are moving to the cloud. Although the ERP system has lagged this integration so far. It will benefit all sizes of businesses especially SMEs as it will eliminate the need to maintain in-house infrastructure.

You will be able to reap the benefits of a comprehensive system with very few human resources. Being a startup it is will be difficult to afford ERP systems but the cloud ERP systems can be accessed within a limited budget.

Future of ERP development #trend4: Customization

Everything in the business world is getting customizable according to the specific needs of the organization. ERP systems are no different. As the business processes handled by ERP systems are unique to every business, so is the ERP software.

The personalized ERP solution market is growing heavily all around the globe. The companies are providing complete digital transformation services to their customers with personalized ERP solution.

Future of ERP development #trend5: All about mobile

Mobility will continue to become the primary technology for implementing ERP systems. Business professionals find it easy to respond through mobiles in case of any kind of real-time changes.

Therefore, even when the manager will not be on-site or working remotely, they can respond to everything promptly. All the departments, from sales to human resources, can be benefited from mobile technology integration with ERP systems. You can hire mobile app developers to get an ERP system that works well on smartphones as well.

Enticed by the benefits and promising future of ERP systems? I have never met a business person who does not find this system worth getting included in their business. The lack of knowledge and fear of failure often becomes the reason for not adopting this software.

To overcome such psychological hurdles, contact a software development company that has delivered ERP development solutions previously. They can study your market, processes, and needs before suggesting a route to implement the ERP system in your business.

If you have a different experience with ERP systems or their developing companies, you can share it with me and other readers in the comment section below. We aim to unveil every aspect- good or bad of ERP development through this post and discussion.