The aim of any organisation is to achieve the ‘next level’ of growth, particularly amongst small and medium enterprises (SMEs). More profit, bigger offices, increased headcount etc. are all the usual measures by which we assess how ‘big’ a company is and how far it has reached.
At some point along that journey, SMEs might look to expand their software and improve their processes to facilitate the growth they want, to help them reach the ‘next level’ – whichever level that might be for the company.
The technology a small and medium enterprise (SME) adopts needs to not only support this growth, but also propel them even further in their business goals.
Instead of seeing technology as the afterthought to your growth plan, we can attest to the benefits for companies who embed their technology solution into their overall business plan.
So how can enterprise resource planning (ERP) technology help companies to grow?
ERP systems are designed to support scalability for SMEs so, however you want your business to grow, the technology is there to support you. Financial accounting is just one way in which ERP can support your business, but the limits are endless when you have the vision…
Local growth
You might be in a niche market and enjoying the benefits of being the main provider or vendor. At this stage, you don’t want/need to expand anywhere else but you do want to capitalise on the local market conditions. You could achieve this by improving your available to promise status, negotiating better procurement deals or developing new ways to market with customer insights.
With an ERP solution, if you are aiming to expand your headcount and presence locally, you simply need to purchase/subscribe more licenses for your new hires so they can access the system, so the growth only happens when you are ready for it.
International growth
The majority of SMEs will look to overseas markets to maximise their growth potential and with good reason; they know they can leverage a marketplace to provide competitive pricing and quality goods.
Rather than just exporting overseas, SMEs are setting up physical offices and plants as part of their international growth plan, according to almost 50% of SMEs surveyed.
An ERP system grows alongside your business; when and how you are ready to do it. A single enterprise platform enables you to have complete oversight into your global operations, in real time, and allows you to make quick and accurate business decisions based on fact; often a differentiator in fickle economic times.
New business model or vertical
If you’ve decided to enter into a new product offering or new market segment, you are well placed with an ERP system to do so with mitigated risk.
If you are looking to invest and enter a new business, we will be able to support you through the help of our industry application partners, ensuring that regardless of which industry you are looking to enter, an ERP system will always be the solution running in the backend.
You’ll also be able to gain insights into the new business market quickly and adapt with agility. Your risk is minimised when you have the right data at your fingertips.
Grow existing customer base
Many companies enjoy the benefits of leveraging their loyal customer base to expand their business and grow their operations. Often, the insights available with an ERP solution, can be the driving force for SMEs to grow in ways they had never thought of before, because they did not have the accurate insights that it can deliver.
This allows the end user to obtain data from the system, analyse it and come up with meaningful conclusions that marketing and sales efforts can be based on.
So, instead of thinking that you wouldn’t be able to benefit from an ERP solution until you are ‘big enough’, consider that the right ERP solution can (and should) be the springboard for you to grow your business, in whichever way you desire.
Image Credit: Photo by Filip Mroz on Unsplash
This article is based on a blog post previously published by me at Blue Ocean Systems
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