You’ve probably heard of the term Enterprise Systems… but completely unsure about it. What is this mystic organisational software? Is it really going to streamline my operations? The whole concept of an Enterprise systems are completely foreign to a lot of companies even though most big corporations are currently using it to easy management and data transfer within their company. So if you’re sick of your current incompetent information system, then we suggest you read on!

So what exactly is an Enterprise System?

 Enterprise Systems (ES) are large-scale software applications that have organisational capabilities as compared to department or group-specific programs. ES allows for partnerships between team members and communication or reporting of information across the organisation through data analytics. These information is accessible by everyone in the company.

Types of Enterprise systems

 There are three types of enterprise systems – Enterprise resources planning (ERP) systems, enterprise planning system, and customer relationship management software.

Enterprise resources planning (ERP) system

Enterprise resources planning (ERP) is a business process management software that allows an organisation to use a system of integrated application to manage the business. It allows the organisation to automate any back end systems that are related to technology and human resources. This helps to reduce waste and improves the productivity of the organisation.

 Enterprise planning system, and

Enterprise planning systems have a broader coverage as compared to ERP. Enterprise planning systems indicate the resources that are available or unavailable to the enterprise. It also addresses the company’s ability to produce and utilise certain resources or produce certain products. It is important to note these factors as it may either positively or undesirably affect the organisation’s ability to carry out certain actions.

 Customer relationship management software (CRM)

CRM software is a software that covers a broad set of applications. It is designed to help businesses manage customer data and interaction. It helps organisations access essential business information and automate sales processes. Today, CRM software is highly scalable and can be used in organisations of different sizes. Businesses would want to keep track of the customer insights as well as view business opportunities with analytics, restructure operations, and give personalised customers service based on the customer’s history and prior interactions.

 

Differences between CRM and ERP

While specific features and capabilities differ between platforms and vendors, here are some of the many activities each type of business software can help you improve:

Using CRM Software to manage front-office activities:

• Organize marketing efforts
• Manage the sales pipeline
• Calculating time spent on converting leads to closing deals
• Streamline your sales processes
• Automating customer service
• Tracking a customer’s interactions with your business
• Share marketing and sales collateral
• Create data reports
• Learn which products sell best and when
• Prioritize leads
• Manage inventory based on historical sales data

 

Using ERP Software to manage back-office activities and tasks:

• Distribution process management
• Supply chain management
• Improve accuracy of financial data
• Automating employee life-cycle
• Standardise critical business procedures,
• Accounting and financial applications
• Lower purchasing costs
• Manage human resources and payroll

 

With that being said, many people might ask how the enterprise system may affect your business?

Enterprise systems can help streamline supply chain management with data analytics to note when, where and how buyers make purchases, and sellers deliver. Therefore, this will allow your company to become more organised when storing the data in a functional format. Thus, the ability to streamline the supply chain means that products are delivered to customers more effectively and decrease costs of delivery.

The reduction of costs in the running a business will convert to a higher budget given to increasing customer service capabilities or investing in other technology that may improve the customer’s overall experience. Thus, one good example is controlling the inventory as keeping excessive or fewer inventories can be detrimental to the business.

These is just a short introduction to what enterprise systems are all about. Having a good understanding of what enterprise systems entail will help you comprehend the importance of working with these complex systems. Businesses are understanding that customers are assets to the company and by using the enterprise systems, they would be able to keep track of the customers.

 

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