What is ERP and why do you need it?

ERP is an acronym that stands for enterprise resource planning (ERP). It is a business process
management software that manages and integrates a company’s financials, supply chain,
operations, reporting, manufacturing, and human resource activities. Most companies have some
form of finance and operational system in place but most of the software that’s out there can’t go
beyond everyday business processes or help with future business growth.

As company’s needs change and they expand, their systems should keep up with them. We’ll
define what ERP is and why it’s smart to have software in place that keeps up with your business
needs.

What is enterprise resource planning?

In the past, businesses had some sort of accounting, finance, or HR process but the software
systems they had often worked separately and didn’t talk or work with one another. What makes
modern ERP software different is that it brings all these different processes to the table to
collaborate and create one fluid system.
Current solutions also allow each department to see what the other is doing. The result is that
accounting and HR can easily collaborate with sales and customer relationships.

Why ERP is critical for your businesses?

While there’s no all-up solution software for every business processes, ERP technology is getting
better and better at bringing all your business processes together to improve collaboration, help
your company make data-driven decisions, and advance business productivity.
ERP can cover a lot of company functions, but some of the main business processes include:

Finances
Modern ERP offers dashboards that give you an overview of your finances, so you can tap into the
real-time information anytime and anywhere. It should also help you cut down on entering
information manually by automating daily tasks and include tracking abilities that help with your
business’s regulatory compliance.

Human resources
Modern solutions offer ways to manage company data and streamline employee management tasks
like payroll, hiring, and other duties. You could also track employee performance and identify HR
problems before they happen.

Manufacturing
This function improves business communication, automates daily processes, and offers
manufacturers the ability to fulfill customer needs and manage resources by accessing real-time
data. This solution also optimizes project and cost management as well as production planning.

Supply chain
If your company is still entering information by hand and trying to track down inventory in your
warehouse, you can easily save time and money by automating these processes with ERP. Modern
solutions also offer dashboards and business intelligence to help you get a handle on your inventory
management.

Why some businesses are afraid to embrace ERP implementation?

Despite all the options out there, some companies are still hesitant about ERP. There could be
many reasons why, but where there’s a fear, there’s a solution.
FEAR: How do I know I’m choosing the right ERP solution for my business?
You don’t have to find the perfect software solution to fix everything. ERP should actually be able
to take the best of the business processes you’re using now and bring them together under one
system, while letting everyone in your organization view the same information. This is where your
choice of at technology partner is important.
FEAR: We can’t afford a major ERP overhaul.
A solution doesn’t have to be an all or nothing implementation proposition. Software solution
modules can be purchased separately depending on your business needs. This will help your team
ease into the implementation piece of ERP and it’ll save having to invest in a major software
renovation without knowing whether or not the functions you’re adding will pay off.
FEAR: We don’t want to lose the systems we have in place now.
As we mentioned, any ERP solution you choose should work with what you’re using now but also
include features that can help in your future growth. For instance, if the software you have mostly
handles the financial, supply chain, and manufacturing sides of your business, you may want to
look for a solution that brings in a strong business intelligence component.

Three signs that you need ERP

If you’re reading this and struggling with your legacy system, you probably already know that
implementation is in your future, but here are the signs that you definitely need new ERP starting
today:
The basics aren’t letting you grow
Perhaps you’ve been doing fine with basics, but if your current software is putting limits on your
market expansion and ability to grow on a global scale, it may be time for a system that does
You’re dealing with disparate systems
As technology changes, you’re noticing that your disparate systems don’t work well together. You
may notice that your new accounting software isn’t compatible with your old HR system, and
you’re tired of wasting time and resources trying to stitch a solution together.
You can’t meet customer expectations
If your staff and customers are mobile and your system isn’t accommodating them, it’s time to
invest in one that meets everyone’s needs. If you feel like you can’t afford to invest in meeting
your customer’s expectations, and you’re not willing to give your staff the tools they need to
succeed, you’ll lose them to a competing business pure and simple.

TIP:
If you or your staff is asking for a new system and there’s a resistance to an ERP change, one of
the ways to combat this is to schedule a demo so everyone can see what’s out there. Plus, when
 everyone feels like they’re included in on the decision process it’ll make implementation much
easier.

ERP applications
New advancements in ERP technology can put you ahead of the competition. Not only do
they help you enhance employee performance, but also offer opportunities for better
customer engagement.
One of the ways you can take advantage of these advancements is by implementing intelligent
business applications that let you:

 Modernize basic ERP functions

 Use data and intelligence to help your staff find new business opportunities
 Customize and build applications that meet your business requirements with little to no code
development

Characteristics

ERP systems typically include the following characteristics:

 An integrated system
 Operates in real time
 A common database that supports all the applications
 A consistent look and feel across modules
 Installation of the system with elaborate application/data integration by the Information
Technology (IT) department, provided the implementation is not done in small steps
 Deployment options include: on-premises, cloud hosted, or SaaS

Functional areas

An ERP system covers the following common functional areas. In many ERP systems, these are called and
grouped together as ERP modules:

 Finance & Accounting: General Ledger, Fixed Assets, payables including vouchering,
matching and payment, receivables Cash Management and collections, cash management,
Financial Consolidation
 Management Accounting: Budgeting, Costing, cost management, activity based costing
 Human resources: Recruiting, training, rostering, payroll, benefits, retirement and pension
plans, diversity management, retirement, separation
 Manufacturing: Engineering, bill of materials, work orders, scheduling, capacity, workflow
management, quality control, manufacturing process, manufacturing projects, manufacturing
flow, product life cycle management
 Order Processing: Order to cash, order entry, credit checking, pricing, available to
promise, inventory, shipping, sales analysis and reporting, sales commissioning.
 Supply chain management: Supply chain planning, supplier scheduling, product
configurator, order to cash, purchasing, inventory, claim processing, warehousing (receiving,
put away, picking and packing).
 Project management: Project planning, resource planning, project costing, work breakdown
structure, billing, time and expense, performance units, activity management
 Customer relationship management: Sales and marketing, commissions, service, customer
contact, call center support — CRM systems are not always considered part of ERP systems
but rather Business Support systems (BSS).
 Data services : Various "self–service" interfaces for customers, suppliers and/or employees

Components

 Transactional database
 Management portal/dashboard
 People
 Software
Benefits

 ERP can improve quality and efficiency of the business. By keeping a company's internal
business processes running smoothly, ERP can lead to better outputs that may benefit the
company, such as in customer service and manufacturing.
 ERP supports upper level management by providing information for decision making.
 ERP creates a more agile company that adapts better to change. It also makes a company more
flexible and less rigidly structured so organization components operate more cohesively,
enhancing the business—internally and externally.
 ERP can improve data security in a closed environment. A common control system, such as
the kind offered by ERP systems, allows organizations the ability to more easily ensure key
company data is not compromised. This changes, however, with a more open environment,
requiring further scrutiny of ERP security features and internal company policies regarding
security.
 ERP provides increased opportunities for collaboration. Data takes many forms in the modern
enterprise, including documents, files, forms, audio and video, and emails. Often, each data
medium has its own mechanism for allowing collaboration. ERP provides a collaborative
platform that lets employees spend more time collaborating on content rather than mastering
the learning curve of communicating in various formats across distributed systems.
 The real-time reporting gives the required operational visibility thereby reducing risk and
ensuring compliance with the regulatory requirements. It also helps in rapidly identifying the
new opportunities thereby enabling the claim to competitive edge.
Disadvantages

 Customization can be problematic. Compared to the best-of-breed approach, ERP can be seen
as meeting an organization’s lowest common denominator needs, forcing the organization to
find workarounds to meet unique demands.
 Re-engineering business processes to fit the ERP system may damage competitiveness or
divert focus from other critical activities.
 ERP can cost more than less integrated or less comprehensive solutions.
 High ERP switching costs can increase the ERP vendor's negotiating power, which can
increase support, maintenance, and upgrade expenses.
 Overcoming resistance to sharing sensitive information between departments can divert
management attention.
 Integration of truly independent businesses can create unnecessary dependencies.
 Extensive training requirements take resources from daily operations.
 Harmonization of ERP systems can be a mammoth task (especially for big companies) and
requires a lot of time, planning, and money.

Why is Important for Business?

• ERP tools help in managing accounts, employee records and internal and external factor affecting
the company.
• It reduces cost in the long term by increasing the productivity.
• Reduces the time and effort of managing records as compared to the paper records.
• The merger of financial and operational information allows the company to analyze the business
needs and act in a more effective manner.
• By combining all the records in one whole, ERP makes the management of data easier and more
productive.
• Apart from records, ERP also helps in the management of material and ensures that no material
is lost or stolen. It would also automate the process of buying and maintaining material after
analyzing the stock.
• Helps the company to predict market trends and decide the course of action accordingly.
• Allows the company to expand business using the internet.

ERP Modules
1. Website Apps
1.1 Website Builder
Forget about code
Just drag & drop business features
Get all your business needs, out-of-the-box.

Make a website, then add features as you grow: jobs, eCommerce, customer portal, events, company
blog, call-to-action, newsletter, etc.
Your brand.
Your website.
Get a website that automatically adjusts to fit your brand and style guidelines.

Branding is critical for business success. Odoo provides you tools to easily achieve branding needs.
 Turn visitors into customers
With a fully integrated marketing stack
MULTI-WEBSITES

Odoo’s Multi-Websites opens up broad possibilities of diversification and customer segmentation for
your business. A multiplied audience and boosted revenue are now just a few clicks away!
Each website can work in a fully independent way, with its theme, branding, domain name, header &
footer, pages, languages, products, blog posts, forum, slides, events, live chat channels, etc.

Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization tool integrates with Google to analyze the relevancy of your content in
real time. Get more visitors with a better targeted content.

Your website is optimized by default so you don't have to worry about technical 301 redirects, page
speeds, google schemas, twitter cards, sitemaps, etc.

Call to Action

Easily drag & drop call-to-actions to boost your conversion rates on every page: customize forms, add
pop-ups on exits, fine tune newsletter subscriptions, etc.

Get an efficient lead nurturing with marketing automation and have everything integrated with your
CRM.

Track visitors

Track visitors inside and outside your website. Measure the performance of your marketing campaign
whether it's by email or through external websites or social media.
Track pages in just a click and get notified automatically in your CRM when your leads visits key
pages. Launch live chat sessions to contact them in real time when they visit your website.

Email Marketing

From email acquisition to mass mailing, get everything fully integrated. Get statistics on your mails,
from the clicks to the revenue with a full integration between sale and accounting.

Forget about using third party apps. You don't need to import/export list of contacts, configure trackers
between mails, website and orders, etc. It all works out-of-the-box.

Extend your website with hundreds of Apps

Sell Online

 eCommerce
 eBay
 Event Tickets

Full Marketing Stack

 Lead Acquisition
 Lead Tracking
 Live Chat
 Mass Mailing
Content Management

 Blogs
 Slides
 Forums, Q&A

Link Business Features

 Recruitments
 Helpdesk

Easy inline edition of highly

dynamic content.
1.2 eCommerce
Modern open source online store Awesome product pages. Mobile friendly. Easy.
Amazingly beautiful
Custom product pages in seconds.
Effortlessly create custom designs for product pages to showcase your business in a unique way.

Drag & drop building blocks to snap your designs into place and showcase your inventory.

Add product attributes such as color, size, or style to keep product lines easy to navigate.

Edit product pages with ease to always have your product information displayed the way you want it
to be seen.
An All-in-One solution
Ready to use, out-of-the-box.
With an integrated eCommerce platform, inventory and sales can easily be maintained via
automatic stock adjustments and reporting.

Dedicated customer portals help keep customer data organized with order tracking and claims,
allowing customers to download invoices and delivery orders as well as view pending shipments
from a single location.
Marketing optimized
Increase your average cart revenue.
Boost your sales with cross selling and upselling opportunities on product pages, in the cart or at
checkout.

Automatically recommend product accessories or suggested products and alternatives to show

customers more of the items they might like, as well as provide increased exposure to all of your
items in stock.
Suggested products

Payments
Fully integrated.
Allow customers to pay
with Paypal, Ingenico, Adyen, Buckaroo, [Link], PayUmoney, Stripe and SIPS
Wordline. Online payment methods redirect customers to a 'Thank you' page on your website.

Shipping
UPS, DHL, FedEx, USPS and more.
Speed up your order fulfillment with easy integrations for major shipping carriers and track your
packages directly from Odoo. Select across multiple rates from shipping providers and print
shipping labels with just a click.

With the designer touch

Ready-to-use themes
Fully customizable pages and themes that allow you to create a professional design without being
a designer. Easily adjust pages to fit your company's unique style.
Other Web Applications
 Blogs
 Forum
 Slides
 Live chat