Finding the right ERP software solution

The challenge isn’t finding innovative enterprise resource planning (ERP) software; it's narrowing your options down to a modern solution that effectively streamlines everyday work processes, follows regulatory standards, and scales with your growing business.

If you’re feeling a little overwhelmed on which ERP solution you should or shouldn’t implement, here are a few tips and tools to help you with your search.

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Why finding the right ERP solution is important for your business

Effective ERP brings all your business processes together to improve collaboration, help your company make data-driven decisions, and advance business productivity. Look for solution software tools that assist with:

Financial management—Improve your control over company assets, cash flow, and accounting.

Supply chain and operations management—Streamline purchasing, manufacturing, inventory, and sales-order processing.

Customer relationship management—Deliver better customer service, while increasing cross-sell and upsell opportunities.

Project management—Manage billing and project monitoring to deliver work on time and within your budget.

Human resources management—Attract, hire, manage, and pay employees that can help your business thrive.

Business intelligence—Offer easy-to-use tools that help you with analysis, reporting, and business intelligence.

As you grow and expand on a global scale, ERP allows you and your company to maintain visibility and standardize business procedures, so you can work around the world and move into new markets. Some of the benefits of ERP global software allow you to:

Collaborate across your virtual organization—Easily work in partnership with other operations, partners, and suppliers on your value chain.

Expand into new markets easily—Support new locations, geographies, and industries with minimal IT effort.

Simplify your IT environment—Standardize a single ERP solution and easily innovate by capitalizing on existing IT investments.

3 ways to find the right ERP solution

Finding then implementing the right ERP software solution can be a daunting task, but a little preparation can go a long way. Here are three steps to get you started:

Do your research
While it’s always good to start with a serious investigation of your business requirements, it’s also important to be honest with yourself and ask: “What processes do we do well and what do we need help with?” Once you’ve done an internal review, you can expand your research, see what the competition is doing, and what your customers expect.
Consider your options
When you’ve got a good grasp on your requirements and what processes you want to start with, you can delve into the ERP technology that meets your needs. Start by looking at where you are now, project where you want to be in the future, then find the ERP solution that will help you get there.
Choose your partners wisely
The right technology partner can help you easily deploy the software you need, from financial management to manufacturing and supply chain management. . The best way to gauge the value and working relationship with your future partner is to schedule a demo to see if they have the skills, industry expertise, and technology to help you achieve your goals.

TIP: You may be ready for an ERP solution, but how about the rest of your staff? Make sure that everyone from users to IT managers are involved in the selection process on some level.

What an ERP solution offers

With all the ERP applications out there, it’s important to remember two things: ERP software should help you with your everyday tasks but also assist in your company’s long-term growth. It needs to have capabilities to help with different financial and operational processes, it needs to be adaptable to your business needs, and it should also be built on a modern technology platform that gives you business process automation, insights, security, and scalability. Here are other benefits a modern ERP solution can offer you.

Affordability

The solution you choose needs to offer pricing alternatives that work for you based on multiple factors, including the size of your business, the features you need, and where your data is hosted. Keeping your total cost of ownership (TCO) in mind, you should be willing to negotiate any and all costs with your technology partner.

Compatibility

Choose software that works with and improves on the business processes you’re using now. Efficient ERP should be adaptable enough to install on a server, on premise, or in a cloud solution and viewable on company devices, like tablets and phones.

Scalability

An effective solution should easily integrate with other software and services you’re using today, with the potential to scale with your business locally and globally. This means identifying new business opportunities and expanding lines of business with the ability to transfer between multiple systems.

Security

If you’re considering a move to the cloud, look for ERP systems that specialize in network and data security. It’s also important that the solution you choose helps you meet the regulatory compliance needs your industry requires.

Deployability

Speaking of moving to the cloud, implementation can be the trickiest part of integrating new ERP software. Investigate your deployment options, including on-premises and automated, cloud-based solutions. We’ll break down the advantages of having ERP in the cloud later.

What you need to know about ERP in the cloud

There are lots of reasons why you should consider ERP in the cloud, including: speed, agility, cost-effectiveness, and gaining a competitive edge.

Here are some other benefits of having ERP in the cloud:

Make rapid business transformations possible.

Keep data safely off-premises and less vulnerable.

Avoid purchasing costly software and hardware.

View real-time information on almost any device.

Support your IT needs without having to hire and maintain an IT staff.

Get flexible cloud and on-premises deployment options that comply with industry regulations and use datacenter investments.

Simplify and accelerate business process changes, seamlessly integrate with legacy systems, simplify global compliance, and scale elastically.

See what a modern ERP software solution can do

Find the right ERP solution for your business with Dynamics 365 finance and operations applications—intelligent business solutions that can help you drive growth, make real-time, data-driven decisions at a global scale, and digitally transform your business.