Benefits of ERP for Service Providers

First thing’s first. What is an ERP? ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning, but the full name doesn’t give much insight into what an ERP actually does. Broadly, ERP refers to a system that automates and integrates a company’s core business activities to increase efficiency and simplify operations. It’s a comprehensive system that includes all the software pieces you might need to run your service-centric business.

With that comes significant benefits for you and your team. The right ERP will allow your business to:

• Grow by providing reliable information upon which to base important business decisions.
• Create efficiencies by helping automate tasks so you and your employees can shift focus to value-added activities and spend less time on administrative tasks.
• Consolidate disparate systems and improve data accuracy by providing a single source of truth that enables improved communication between departments and no need for duplicating the entry of any piece of information.
• Define processes to manage regulatory requirements, maintain compliance and historical record needs.
• Improve your on-hand inventory visibility, increase accuracy and reduce overhead with strategic purchasing and inventory controls.
• Quantify the cost of labor, time, and equipment, and know exactly how much stock and labor every call or job consumes.
• Manage technicians with tracking and accurate delivery information from the start.
• Build meaningful reports using critical business data for complete visibility into your operation.
• Access every detail about a client from one screen, including order inquiries, billing information, invoices, and both past and current orders.
• Analyze data in real-time for better, faster decision making.
• Increase collaboration across departments and provide a better understanding of how each facet of the organization operates to enhance teamwork.

ERP software helps to eliminate redundant processes and systems, dramatically lowering the cost of doing business overall. With ERP, you can rid yourself of duplicate data entries in disparate databases, unpredictable costs, and employee downtime, all of which cost you time and money.