Revolutionize distribution operations with a modern ERP
Improve business productivity and agility
Modern enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are helping businesses around the globe—including your competitors—revolutionize their operations. Distributors of all sizes are adopting technology that is designed to better manage business processes on an integrated and real-time basis. Technologically advanced ERP systems are an investment in your company’s operations, efficiency, intelligence, and productivity. Every feature of a modern ERP system ultimately ties back to these improvements, which enable your organization to become more productive, more competitive, and better positioned to meet your customers’ needs.
As these business systems evolved, they met the needs of their times, but their functionality was directly limited by the available technology. Today’s ERP systems might be better called digital operations platforms (DOP) to reflect their agile, artificial intelligence (AI)-based, and experience-driven nature, as well as the critical role they play in cloud-based, digital businesses.
Technology advances have transformed what an ERP (aka DOP) can do for your organization. Modern ERP systems provide a live view into what is happening and how it impacts your business today, as well as in the months and years to come. This helps you to focus on the future instead of the past.
Misconceptions delay modernization
There are several misconceptions that hold distributors back from modernization, and from moving their ERP system into the cloud. These misconceptions include the belief that the cloud isn’t secure, that it’s more expensive, that outages occur more frequently, and that a cloud-based ERP is one-size-fits all. Business leaders are also concerned that an ERP implementation will cause significant disruption to the business, cause the organization to lose focus, or even “break” business processes that the company looks upon as core to its success.
In today’s fast moving, increasingly competitive business environment, distributors need complete, enterprise-wide visibility and the ability to collaborate across the business. They need the agility and flexibility to quickly respond to a changing market, grow, and expand to take advantage of new opportunities—ideally, before the competition. Legacy system functionality may have been good enough for previous eras, but no longer serves these evolving requirements. Today’s way of doing business is data-driven and demands proper tools to access, share, and leverage this data in order to make business decisions to not just survive, but also grow your business.
Modern ERP delivers game-changing benefits
Some of the major benefits of a modern ERP system include its capacity to help organizations:
- Improve user adoption - You can’t achieve return on investment if your employees can’t use your ERP system. Updated systems are more user-friendly, encouraging employees to seek out data and integrate it into decision-making.
- Make better business decisions - Enterprise analytics enable businesses to connect data across business silos and drill down on overall results and KPIs to functional contributors. With modern ERP systems, businesses can grow the “analytics mindset” within their organization to increase data-driven decision-making for improving operational effectiveness. And by aligning enterprise KPIs with department objectives, teams and individuals can gain a clearer picture of how their priorities impact the overall business performance.
ROI is always the key metric for business decision makers, and modern ERP systems help teams communicate more clearly with executive stakeholders through business analytics, scenario planning, and financial impact analysis. By understanding the drivers of current financial outcomes and then using tools to model future outcomes, teams not only benefit from greater confidence in their decisions, but also get increased support from executives who know they’re investing company resources intelligently.
- Attract and retain talent - A twofold challenge for distributors today is the retirement of employees with years of “tribal” knowledge and distribution expertise, combined with a new generation of workers who are less inclined to embark on distribution careers. Without these resources, your company can’t exist. This new generation of digital “natives” demand technology that is user-friendly and supports how they like to work. They want software that mirrors the look and feel of applications they use in their day-to-day lives and supports immediate access to data and collaboration. For many distributors, modern ERP systems have been a key differentiator when targeting this generation of workers.
- Create value through innovative services - Distributors are no longer defined by the inventory they carry. In the digital age, distributors will be defined by their ability to be innovative partners. With a modern ERP system, distributors can create value and better serve customers by delivering services such as kitting and assembly, distributor managed inventory, rental, and more.
- Break down business silos and increase collaboration - By extending ERP capabilities beyond operations with a modern platform, distributors can increase collaboration across functional areas for improved workflows and increased productivity. As teams leverage improved communications and cross-functional data, they can reduce cycle times and increase accuracy. Native social tools within ERP systems allow teams to share rich information across regions and time zones using devices that support work wherever and whenever needed.
Modern ERP systems support “outside-in” requirements for exchanging information with suppliers and customers. Networked support for processes enables distributors to deliver near-perfect order fill rates for customers, offer value-add services that improve customer business problems, and improve overall business flexibility. Analytics for in-context decisions can factor in third-party data, such as stock levels, lead times, and demand forecasts for improved planning, scheduling, and cost and risk management.
- Improve key performance metrics - Distributors on the latest ERP versions see significant improvements in metrics such as reduction in backorders, improved inventory accuracy, faster response times, and reductions in operational costs. These performance improvements have a direct impact on the bottom line and improve customer experience.
- Utilize emerging technology - Analytics, mobility, cloud, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things (IoT) are becoming table stakes in the modern distribution environment, and organizations are growing more sophisticated in utilizing them. For example, using IoT, distributors can monitor inventory levels at customer locations, automate replenishment services, and generate valuable insights from product usage patterns. Outdated ERP systems can’t support this innovation.
Why Infor for modern ERP?
Enable continuous growth with modern ERP
The distribution industry is changing. New business models, products, locations, and regulatory concerns must be supported, and old technology may not be able to support your business in the new environment. Modern ERP software vendors are continuously adding new best practices, often industry specific, to their solutions that will ensure competitiveness. This will give your organization the flexibility to support growth as your business changes through the years.
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