Any business entity is built upon the products or services they offer. It needs to go through several stages to effectively provide the results they offer to their clients. Each stage will have to go through various business processes to get accomplished and passed over to the next stage. The entire cycle will be based on the policies and procedures designed for the accomplishment of the vision of the company. There must be a system in place to follow and track the cycle. The desired result of this system will be to optimize the productivity of the company resources.
This will be the simplest description of Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP. Automating the cycle with a software solution should ensure the entire processes, procedures and the stages sticking on to the company policies. The result anticipated will be to achieve the assured quality standards that take the company towards its vision. This initiated the ERP software development services for various industries. All complete ERP systems will cover most of the common departments of the enterprise. It works as the total management solution of any company. It works great with industries where there are deep processes in their regular work pattern covering, supply chain management, inventory management, manufacturing processes, management processes, project management, sales and customer services, human resources etc.
Most of the software solutions are designed for the automation of offices and their processes. But usually, they were developed for various departments separately. Departments like Sales, Customer Service, accounts etc. had separate software to manage their activities. They remained separate since most of the software development company stick to their own expertise. But, the enterprises having multiple departments were greatly in need of an all-in-one solution and that resulted in the development of ERP Solutions. Further, depending upon the industry and size there needed certain Custom ERP Solution too.
Custom ERP Software development services were in demand mostly for the Small and Medium Enterprises and mostly developed according to the specific requirements of the clients on reduced costs. ERP software systems integrate the departments on various aspects according to the common objective of the company. Integrating the data, workflow or processes between sales, maintenance, accounts, operations, customer service, manufacturing, production etc. can be really advantageous, at the same time challenging. Centralized database management and maintenance is also a basic requirement in this case.
1. Workflow Management: Any ERP project must support the facilities to improve the interdepartmental workflow of the company. This will help in tracking the workflow in processes that include multiple stages or involvement of multiple departments.
2. Data sharing: An ERP system allows managed data sharing between the departments. For example, a customer database may include details from the inquiry stage to the after-sales services of a product. This data will be captured through various stages of the transaction. But will be useful for all the departments for follow up calls, customer retention, data analysis on trending and patterns, product feedback, customer referrals etc.
3. User Access Control: Since the data is shared across the departments, it is a basic necessity to manage user profiles effectively. Usually accounts related data are usually critical and not needed to be shared for any other departments. Thus while sharing data, it needs to be secured properly.
4. Cost-benefit: A perfectly stitched ERP system avoids most of the recurring operational costs. An automation system will provide real-time tracking of the workflow. This allows foreseeing delays and breakdowns, preventing or resolving the issues in advance.
5. Flexibility: When accessed over the internet, it allows flexibility in work. Users can access their work from anywhere on the move, can include third-party login with limited access, a multi-location business can be included are certain advantages.
Apart from the above discussed general features, while developing a custom ERP
software can be built with specific requirements of any business entity. Even
when companies from the same industry work almost alike with similar features,
there may occur certain features related to the work culture in a company that
is entirely different from the companies of the same industry. This
customization may not be useful for other companies though.
Thus, the ERP
Software system will make the company work as a single entity even when the
departments having ownership on their own workflow and processes. It provides
integrated software with modules on Sales, CRM, Accounts, HR, Production etc.