The Complete Beginners Guide to Cloud ERP Small BusinessesThe entire Enterprise Resource Planning system should be overhauled from time to time. Comprehensive need assessment must be done by businesses before selecting the right ERP solution.

The management of manufacturing and service companies was a herculean task before the advent of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. At present, most of the small business organizations - willing to manage core business operations and maintain longstanding relations with the interested parties - are in wedlock with the ERP, and they are happy.

What does an ERP system do?

• As the name suggests, an ERP is designed to manage both external, and internal business information flows within the company. The system utilizes several practical frameworks to manage an organization's original commercial functions such as inventory management, planning, finance, accounting, human resource, sales, marketing, and the like.
• Functions of sales module also include the interacting inquiries, order placement, order scheduling and then dispatching and invoicing from the broad steps of the sales cycle.

•This module also covers stock transfer between warehouses. Aside from all these roles Commerce module also take out the task of giving analysis records to guide decision making and policy preparation.

• Companies are always needed to have a compelling, selling and marketing force to compete in the market. A general selling and purchasing ERP module will support a business stay contentious and streamline their sales and marketing projects.

• Businesses and purchasing module in an ERP system provide activities such as contacting customers and tracking of each client requests right from placing an order to dispatch of material for that particular order and customer. This module further allows sales executives to contact clients and follow-up each and every sales invoice and receive payments for such bills.

• Another important aspect of transactions module is it enables management to control sales target obtained by individual marketing personnel as per the destination planner for each marketing staff.

• This feature in of the sales module in the ERP system improves the functioning of the purchasing department and ensures personnel is not in the right direction.

• An excellent sales and marketing module also has features to track lost orders and identify the reasons for losing those orders. Company partners and franchises are a common phenomenon in today's world.

• Modern ERP software will link marketing staff to their colleagues of ventures and licenses and allow them to trace and control their production.

• An ERP solution enables the flow of information between several organizational departments and helps manage the connections with stakeholders.

How to set up an ERP?

• Such a system is designed to run on a battery of network configurations and hardware, comprising hosted (cloud-based services and software) and on premises (client-server model).
• An ERP is connected to a shared database for storing details coming from several business operations; this database is accessible by different users in one form or the other. Preferably, an integrated database is chosen by many developers to manage the system's multi-mode framework.

Correct implementation of ERP system?

• The entire Enterprise Resource Planning system should be overhauled from time to time. Comprehensive need assessment must be done by businesses before selecting the right ERP solution.

• While assessing the need, the business must not forget its core objectives; in other words, each of the assessed needs must be in line with the company's goals.

• Another factor to ensure the correct implementation of ERP solutions is the selection of the right vendor. An experienced vendor who can understand the need of business must be partnered with.

What are the benefits of an ERP?

• It ensures effective management of previous project's data; such information is critical to decision making.
• The system provides hassle-free access to corporate data; this, in turn, helps glean information necessary to develop future strategies.
• The system is a single storehouse of information about services, products, vendors, retailers, suppliers, customer orders, etc.
• The analysis of sales and planning information stored in the system assists an organization never to over-promise or under deliver its customers.
• The system offers a single base for storing customer's bill, testimonials, and any other recorded customer interaction; the proper analysis of such information promises significant improvements in client satisfaction levels.
Apart from ERPs, a company can depend on custom web applications and intranet application to help its business reach unprecedented heights of excellence.