So you’ve decided that your small business has outgrown its basic accounting tools, and that an ERP solution may be the answer to those common efficiency and visibility headaches caused information being spread out across different systems.
What’s the right option for a business that has outgrown Sage 50 but isn’t sure where to turn next?
Before we answer this question, here’s a quick disclaimer. Here at APH, we’re specialists in SAP Business One – a powerful business management (or ERP) solution for small but growing companies. It competes directly with software like Sage 200 and Sage X3, and it’s an excellent option for first-time ERP buyers – firms that have reached the limits of what they can do with basic accounting tools.
Looking to buy business software in 2017? Chances are, one of the questions you’ll ask during the decision-making process will be: “Can we run this in the cloud?”
If you’re an SME owner-manager, you’ll be well aware of how rapidly things change as your business grows. With growth comes more data, more jobs and transactions, and more employees. An ERP solution may be just the thing you need to help you manage everything across your various business systems.
It’s almost impossible for a traditional wholesale or retail business to make the move into ecommerce without some degree of integration between its ecommerce platform and other business management software. Whether the website needs to pull data from CRM, accounting, inventory management or somewhere else, this integration is critical to an outstanding customer experience.
If you’re an SME owner-manager, one of your goals may eventually be to sell your business. However, unless you have decent internal processes, you may struggle to get the best possible price for your company.
Even as long ago as 2013, the proportion of UK business turnover through ecommerce was 20% – the third-highest figure of any country in the EU. And, just last year, an ONS report found that almost four-fifths (79%) of British individuals had made purchases online in the last 12 months.
If you’re a traditional retailer or wholesaler and don’t already sell online, it’s probably only a matter of time until you do. After all, it’s not easy to stay relevant in retail in 2016 without an online shop –some 77% of UK consumers now shop online, according to recent ONS data, which represents a massive 24 percentage-point increase since 2008.
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Ecommerce, in 2016, is no longer just a B2C concern – it’s used by more and more B2B companies, too. For small and medium-sized wholesalers in particular, the online channel is recognised as an efficient and cost-effective way to sell to retail partners, as well as to the end customer.
As your business grows, one of the things you’ll eventually find is that your manual processes don’t cut it any more. A high level of activity is great, but not when it takes you three hours each day to compile financial reports and update your stock levels. Many companies turn to ERP for this reason, as it allows them to streamline their processes and keep all of their business data in one place.
