What is Enterprise Resource Planning Software?

ERP Software

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is software used by organizations to manage their day-to-day business activities including accounting, procurement, project management, risk management and compliance, and supply chain operations. ERP software helps tie together multiple business processes and enables the flow of data between them. By collecting a business's shared transactional data from multiple sources, ERP systems eliminate data duplication and provide data integrity with a single source of truth.

ERP solutions are critical for managing businesses of all sizes and industries. And a complete Enterprise Resource Planning suite also includes Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) , a software solution that helps plan, budget, forecast, close, consolidate, and report on an organization's financial results.

ERP software is designed around a single, defined data structure that has a common database. This helps ensure that the information used across the organization is normalized and based on common definitions and user experiences. These core structures are interconnected with business processes that are driven by workflows across business departments (e.g. finance, human resources, sales, marketing, operations.) This becomes the vehicle for integrating people, processes, and technologies across a modern enterprise.

A key ERP principle is the central collection of data for wide distribution. With a secure and centralized data repository, your organization can be confident that data is correct, up-to-date, and complete. Data integrity is assured for every task performed throughout your business, from a quarterly financial statement to a single outstanding receivables report, without relying on error-prone Excel spreadsheets.

The benefits of Enterprise Resource Planning software include:

• Improved insight from real-time information generated by reports
• Lower operational costs through streamlined business processes and best practices
• Enhanced collaboration from users sharing data in contracts, requisitions, and purchase orders
• Reduced risk through improved data integrity and financial controls
• Lower management and operational costs through uniform and integrated systems

One of the greatest benefits of utilizing a cloud ERP solution is that the software is kept up-to-date with the latest features, functions, and best practices. With a SaaS (software as a service) model, providers roll out updates regularly... meaning that the newest technologies-such as AI, digital assistants, machine learning, blockchain, augmented reality, and the Internet of Things (IoT)-become available to subscribers on a regular cadence. With access to these new technologies, organizations can quickly improve their business best practices as the ERP software evolves.

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