Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have helped, and continue to help businesses around the world revolutionize their operations.
As technology advances, the abilities of ERP systems also advance. For distributors, this means there’s an opportunity to better manage your business processes on an integrated and real-time basis.
Technologically advanced ERP systems are an investment that enables your company to have more efficient operations, become more productive, and more competitive, and be better positioned to meet your customers’ needs.
Unfortunately, some distributors have not taken advantage of the modern cloud solution ERP systems that exist today. Below, we discuss some misconceptions, benefits, and more about modern ERP. Keep reading to discover why wholesale distributors should revolutionize distribution operations with a modern ERP system.
Misconceptions about Modern Cloud ERP
Several misconceptions hold distributors back from modernization, and moving their ERP system into the cloud.
These misconceptions include the belief that:
- The cloud isn’t secure.
- It’s more expensive.
- Outages occur more frequently.
- A cloud-based ERP is one-size-fits-all.
Business leaders are also concerned that a cloud-based ERP implementation will disrupt their business, cause their organizations to lose focus, or even “break” business processes that the company looks upon as core to its success.
These beliefs are false. We’ll explain why advancing to a modern, cloud-based ERP system is the best thing you can do for your distribution business.
Not only will you improve the profitability of your company, but you’ll also make your operations more efficient, by keeping up with technological business trends that leave you ahead of the competition. Your end-user customers will be satisfied with the quality of service they receive.
But First, We’d Like You to Know We Understand.
Making the switch from a legacy system that has worked for you countless times is a difficult decision. But the times are changing. And it’s only the businesses that can keep up in today’s fast-moving and increasingly competitive environment that will survive.
Today’s way of doing business is data-driven and demands proper tools to access, share, and leverage this data to make business decisions to not just survive, but also grow your business.
A cloud-based, industry-specific ERP system allows you to do all of that, and more!
Benefits of a Modern Cloud ERP Solution
Some of the major benefits of a modern ERP system include its capacity to help organizations:
Improve User Adoption
Your employees are the driving force of your organization. The easier they understand a system, the faster they work. The faster they work, the higher your ROI. This is why updated ERP systems are more user-friendly, encouraging employees to seek out data and integrate it into decision-making processes.
Make Better Business Decisions
If you want to make better business decisions, you need access to a large amount of organized and accurate data. A modern ERP system provides you with this data and ability.
Enterprise analytics enables businesses to connect data across business silos and drill down on overall results and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to functional contributors. With modern ERP systems, businesses can develop that “analytics mindset” within their organization to increase data-driven decision-making for improving operational effectiveness.
And, by aligning enterprise KPIs with department objectives, teams and individuals will gain a clearer picture of how their priorities impact the overall business performance.
Attract and Retain Talent
As we’ve said, without the ideas, expertise, and implementations of your employees, your business operations stall. The new generation of distribution employees is not new to modern technology and demand interfaces that are user-friendly and support how they like to work.
They want software that mirrors the look and feel of applications they use in their day-to-day lives and supports immediate access to data and collaboration. For distributors with modern ERP systems, attracting this new generation of talent has never been a problem.
Conclusion
Without access to a modern cloud solution ERP system, it is difficult and often impossible to support new and rising business models that depend on cloud-based infrastructure and digital business solutions.
It’s also impossible to benefit from the improvements in (KPIs) that come with a successful ERP implementation.
Leading distributors are already taking the leap and investing in modern cloud solution ERP systems, despite their uncertainty. They agree that the gains they’ve seen in productivity and process improvements far outweigh the costs.
At NSA, we help distributors just like you implement modern cloud ERP solutions in their business so they can stay ahead of the competition and become more profitable.
With most of our employees having first-hand distribution experience, we understand the nuances of being in the distribution business and have tailored our ERP systems to serve distributors across various industries to solve whatever problems they might encounter.
In business for nearly 40 years, we strive to be one of the leaders in distributor solutions. Having helped hundreds of distribution businesses like yours implement successful and efficient ERP solutions, we’re confident we can help you too.
If you’re ready to implement a modern cloud solution ERP system into your distribution business plan, reach out to us here.