Interviews

Uses and Evolution of ERP system

In today’s fast evolving digital world, it is highly imperative to keep up to date with the latest technology and software. India is gradually becoming a hub for  new enterprises, there is a rising need for them to function in a manner that would yield the most positive results. Small and emerging businesses need to focus on enhancing their Enterprise Resource Planning  (ERP)  through the adoption of latest technologies such as AI, ML, chat bots, data analytics, Automation, etc. The article talks about the importance of adopting such technologies and how it can help businesses to enhance their existing systems. Mr. Ali Hyder, Group CEO, Focus Softnet share more insights on the same.

 

  1. How has the ERP technology today evolved compared to previous years?

With the advent of digitization, businesses continue moving to cloud ERP platforms. An annual rise of 13.6% in global cloud ERP is expected, with revenue reaching $40.5 billion by 2025. This also indicated a rapid growth in adopting AI and ML in their ERP system to help businesses optimize processes, gain new insights and create more personalized interactions. ERP further integrates with other technologies, such as social media and internet of things (IoT) devices, to increase automation and provide even more visibility and a better customer experience. These days, Mobile ERP plays a vital role in supporting remote work, which is critical to organizations as they increasingly rely on distributed workforces in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

 

2. Why is ERP the need of the hour for small to mid-scale businesses? What are its benefits for organizations?

Just making the right business decisions is not sufficient alone. It has to be done at the right time. Delay in adopting the market trend could bring huge losses to any business. Thus, businesses unanimously need to focus on their key strengths and core competencies and adopt the latest technologies.

Adopting an ERP system could help organizations to streamline their business processes and bring all activities on a single integrated platform. The evolution of technologies and the way of doing business apparently, made the time come when organizations should look at the bigger picture and walk hand-in-hand with the innovations to compete and grow.

Some benefits of ERP are:

  • ERP systems enable process standardization and data integration to assist businesses in binding disparate activities and information tightly under one single integrated platform and allowing users to make more precise decisions. The system gives organizations complete control over their business activities and provides comprehensive data security.
  • When the business starts to grow, it creates a magnitude of your financial transactions, accountability, and reports. Keeping a tab on these is of utmost importance, and one cannot afford error or data loss as an excuse. ERP here plays a vital role in tracking incoming and outgoing transactions. The system integrates information to negate redundancy and provide a centralized view of the information, improving business accountability and reporting.
  • ERP’s centralized database addresses this problem by providing a single source of information to every person and department associated. The system encourages communication among various departments and enables information sharing in real-time. This leaves no scope for any miss. This leads to better interaction and smoother functioning of business processes, which makes productivity take the driver’s seat.
  • This is the age of advanced technologies; organizations cannot risk ignoring the significance of the internet and social media in running their businesses. The modern system helps resources collaborate on the go, reducing waiting and delaying processes. Intelligent ERP software gives companies an extra edge by providing mobility and flexibility in handling their operations.
  • In their pursuit to expand, businesses need to adhere to government rules and regulations. Keeping a tab on all the different regulations imposed on the company is quite a hectic task. ERP system is a savior. It is developed and configured, heeding the compliances to ensure the business always adheres to them.
  • A delighted customer always brings more new customers and thus generates business. ERP systems are equipped with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools to facilitate organizations to improve customer experiences. It provides a deep insight into their behavior, purchase patterns, and market trends to help businesses understand and plan future strategies for improved service and a continued business relationship.
  • Be the response time to customers or potential customers, better and faster response often acts as a key to outshining the close competitors. Businesses could access and use the data stored in the ERP system in a quick span of time and more effectively provide the service customers are looking for.
  • To match the ever-evolving and dynamic business environment, organizations need an ERP system with the latest technology to help them understand the latest market trends and quickly adopt them. This enables businesses to shun the worries, focusing on their core competencies while remaining confident in having access to every advancement.
  • Manually handling business operations make repetitive work and boredom unavoidable part of the workforce’s daily routines. They part ways from productivity which gets reflected in their performance appraisal. ERP system automates repetitive tasks and provides them with the opportunity to enhance their skills and boost their confidence. A happy and content workforce is always productive and an asset for any organization.

In a nutshell, organizations cannot ignore implementing ERP solutions to ensure continuous and sustainable growth of the business.

 

  1. How can SMEs successfully implement ERP?

Here are seven key steps that clarify the required strategy businesses need to follow for a successful ERP implementation with ease:

  • Identify business objectives – Before implementing ERP, businesses must identify the goals and determine exactly why and what they need.
  • Choose an internal project team – Organizations need to build a team capable of ensuring that the implementation process goes smoothly. They could monitor the implementation and guide employees to adopt the new system.
  • Look for the right ERP – Explain business requirements to ensure your ERP system has every feature that makes it function to fulfill them.
  • Get ready for data migration – Data migration is essential. Prepare the staff for effective data migration to streamline your operations.
  • Run multiple tests – After installing comes the testing phase. This is done to get a clear insight into the system’s performance and ensure everything is working correctly.
  • Train the employees – After ERP is implemented and tested, businesses need to train their employees so they can use the system effectively.
  • Go live – After all the steps are done, the new ERP system is ready for businesses to start streamlining their operations.

 

  1. What kind of technologies are used to implement ERP systems in organizations?

The technologies used to implement ERP systems in organizations include-

  1. For Database
  • PostgreSQL
  • MSSQL
  • ORACLE SQL
  1. For Programming Technologies
  • .Net and ASP.NET
  • Java
  • Ruby
  • Python
  • PHP
  1. For Frontend Technologies
  • JavaScript
  • AngularJS
  • React
  • Vue.JS

 

  1. Which are some of the top players in the ERP industry in India? What sets your company apart from your competitors?

Some of India’s top players in the ERP industry, apart from us, are SAP, Infor, and Oracle.

  • Enterprise-ready system

Though generic ERP solutions could be used for managing numerous business operations, for them to function most efficiently they need more optimized and in-depth features present in industry-specific software.

Industry-specific ERP is designed for a particular industry or sector, making it much simpler to deploy and cost-effective and not requiring customization. Along with this, there are fewer hassles of employee training as it is specific to limited functions.

  • Choose from modules

Our ERP system has a modular structure allowing businesses to choose the ERP features they need and not have to pay for unnecessary extras. This approach is helpful for enterprises as well as small to mid-sized companies.

  • AI-enabled software

Our ERP software solutions fully utilize AI technologies to automate routine processes. It can learn and adapt to create improved user experiences and better understand and respond to users.

  • Banking integration

The multi-bank connector is integrated with the payment processing functions in our ERP. This automates and streamlines finance processes, enabling smoother transactions and data transfers between banks and businesses.

  • Available on thin client

Our ERP is available on the thin client and mobile interfaces accessible over the internet and on the go.

 

  1. Could you give us an example of a company that was able to achieve complete automation using Focus Softnet solutions?

A few of the companies that was able to achieve complete automation using our solution include-

  • Britannia Industries Limited
  • Location – Bangalore
  • Product Signed Up for – Focus 9. i Prof

 

  1. Please tell us about your revenue split and sector expertise?

We serve real estate, automotive, education, retail, manufacturing, wholesale and distribution, field services, pharmaceuticals, food & beverage, waste management, warehousing & logistics, and trade & services.

 

  1. What are the future plans on the anvil?

We intend to continue our focus on product development along with entering the broader AI and ML spaces providing users with AI-powered features. This includes creating advanced chatbots and more insightful reporting tools in the system. We further aim on simplifying the UI/UX to empower users with more agile and straightforward solutions and enhance data security by improving our software’s existing integration capabilities and providing users with more innovative product features.

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