When the budget is tight, hiring more IT personnel probably isn’t the best option. Outdated and countless integration challenges leave you little time to focus on the bigger picture to help move your business forward. How do you do more with less? One approach is to “use technology rather than more staff to get the job done” and having a flexible ERP solution that can adapt and scale as your business grows even without adding IT staff or resources is key.
So if you’re in the market for a new ERP solution or considering one in the future, here are our top tips to give you the greatest bang for your buck while getting what you want and need:
- Know the Full Cost – You need to consider all of the aspects of the solution and what they will cost: licensing, implementation, training, upgrades, and maintenance. You do not want to be surprised with hidden or unexpected costs down the line, so ask the hard questions upfront.
- Pay-As-You-Grow – Only pay for what your business needs right now, but find a solution that offers the flexibility to add other functionality or applications as needed. There is no reason to pay for something that you might not ever end up using. Find an ERP solution and provider like that supports this need for flexibility.
- Move Swiftly – Once you’ve picked a provider, make sure the implementation stays on schedule. If it gets dragged out, costs will skyrocket. Set a clear schedule and stick to it.
- Standardize Company-Wide – To get the full benefit of your investment, look for a single integrated ERP solution. Using disparate applications means that you are probably spending too much time troubleshooting and maintaining integration points – and not enough time looking for opportunities to reduce costs and improve productivity.
- Make Your Staff ERP Experts – It is vital that your people know how to fully use the solution. The features are what you are paying for; if you don’t use them, you are wasting money. Don’t underestimate the value of training.
As you can see, choosing an ERP solution has many important facets you need to consider before making a decision. Let our ERP experts at Borek Business Solutions help find the solution that gives you the greatest bang for your buck by today!
By Roger Borek, Borek Business Solutions, Oregon-based Microsoft Dynamics GP Partner.
"The features are what you are paying for; if you don’t use them, you are wasting money"
Excellent point! If your employees don't know how to use the software than it's a waste of time and money. Elements that are supposed to make things easier actually make it more complicated because no one knows how to navigate the new system. Training is crucial to success.