Your business has a lot of moving parts: from accounting and payroll to production and distribution. Every activity within the company and each piece of data gathered externally from customers, suppliers and business partners must be recorded. To make informed decisions, your entire company needs access to that data — but how can you manage it all while still handling day-to-day tasks?
The Problem: "We accept credit cards today but we do it through an online portal or with a physical card reader."
Most process manufacturers and chemical distributors accept credit cards for some portion of their sales. Customers with poor or declining credit, slow payers, or small customers account for many of those charges. When these cases come up you find yourself jumping between your ERP system and an online processing portal or a physical card reader. You might not have a great way to save card numbers and associate them with the right customer profile in your ERP so you end up writing down or saving sensitive credit card information in non-secure locations. You then have the headache of having to reconcile payments between your bank, your merchant processing statements and your ERP. It can be a messy process and is ripe for errors and security issues.
When it comes to searching for a new ERP software solution there is no one-size fits all. It is a critical decision that can be an extremely long and difficult process. One must consider many different factors (ex. functionality, fit, price, complexity etc.) before selecting a solution. It is very important that you take your time in evaluating your options as choosing the right solution as well as the right vendor is critical to the success of the project. To help ease the stress this process can cause we have broken down 5 key factors one should consider when evaluating various ERP software vendors.
Incorporating the right Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software solution is not just choosing the right product. It’s just as important to know how you will access the software. Today, there are various hosting models available in addition to having it on a local computer. Therefore, you should consider the hosting model that best fits your business. The following is a breakdown of the 3 basic hosting models for ERP software:
Businesses looking to select and implement a new ERP system have a critical decision to make right off the back. Do you go with a large generic ERP solution that provides the “one size fits all” type functionality? Or, do you look at a more industry-specific ERP solution that will provide the functionality that meets your needs?
