If you’re dealing with lengthy accounting close timeframes, frustrated users and poor operational visibility, it’s probably time to start shopping for a new Enterprise Resource Planning platform.
Familiar and comfortable, the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system that you’ve been using for years or even decades may be doing your company a disservice. As the business world, your industry and even your individual employees continue to evolve, your company has to be able to keep up—or stay out in front of—these changes.
If your current ERP isn’t meeting your needs, that system is probably also inhibiting growth, expansion and profitability. Without a modern, cloud-based ERP like NetSuite in place, your organization may soon find itself struggling to keep up with the companies that do regularly upgrade, enhance and replace their core business systems.
6 Clear Signs that you Need a New ERP
Focused on automating and optimizing business processes in a way that boosts operational efficiency, productivity and overall corporate profitability, ERP leverages the latest technologies to provide visibility, data and intelligence across all business units. When those insights are stored in a single, cloud-based repository, all authorized users can access, learn from and act on that information 24/7 from anywhere.
But not all ERPs are built the same, nor do they offer the same set of features and functionalities. Some older, legacy systems, for example, may not integrate well (or in some cases, at all) without software systems. These monolithic systems lack modern capabilities and force users into a never-ending game of “spreadsheet shuffle.” This not only takes time and resources, but it’s also error-prone.
Here are six more clear signs that it’s time to replace your current ERP with a modern, cloud-based solution like NetSuite:
- Employees don’t like the system. Your ERP should be user-friendly and intuitive, and not a burden on your team members. New employees expect to be able to use modern technology in the workplace and veteran associates want to work for companies that help them be more efficient and effective at their jobs. If your ERP is failing you in these areas, it’s time to consider a new one.
- The company has grown since you installed your ERP. Your current system may have sufficed when you ran a small operation, but it can quickly turn into a burden when your company starts to add employees, reach out into different markets and add overseas subsidiaries. With NetSuite and OneWorld, you can run a global operation from a single ERP, versus having to transfer information across multiple, disparate ERP systems.
- Company-wide reporting is cumbersome or non-existent. Getting reports about an event 30 days after it took place isn’t good enough anymore. In today’s fast-paced business environment, corporate leaders need real-time data at their fingertips. This is nearly impossible in an environment where managers are working with legacy systems, spreadsheets and email (for sharing the information). With NetSuite, the same managers have all of the operational and performance data they need on dashboards that enable fast, educated decision-making.
- You’re worried about data security. Data security was less of a concern when some of the older ERPs on the market were first developed. The environment has changed dramatically over the last decade. With the number of cybersecurity threats increasing every year, corporate IT teams are keeping a watchful eye on the security of their software solutions—ERPs included. NetSuite application and operational security blocks unauthorized network and service connections while allowing customers convenient access to NetSuite from anywhere, with complete confidence.
- Software maintenance costs are too high. Once upon a time it was common for a company to pay anywhere from 15% to 25% in annual “maintenance fees” for an ERP system. Those fees covered support, upgrades, maintenance and other expenses. These costs ate up a lot of the typical IT budget. If your current vendor isn’t even offering upgrades anymore, then what are you really paying for? This is a question that many companies that were locked into these types of maintenance contracts are asking themselves right now. With NetSuite, you’ll sign up for a subscription license based on your product configuration (designed by Vursor) to fit your specific business needs. NetSuite scales as your organization grows, so you only ever pay for what you need.
- It’s taking way too long to close the books every month, quarter or year. Finalizing the financial records for a specific period of time—month, quarter or year—involves transferring temporary account balances to permanent accounts; preparing financial statements; and ensuring that all transactions are accurately recorded and reconciled. With all of the financial data right in NetSuite, you can close the books faster. You can also close the books gradually throughout the month via the “continuous close” process. “Reconciling just a couple of items every day vs. all items at month-end, for example, makes accountants’ jobs easier,” NetSuite points out. “It also makes the month-end process quicker.”
A Solution that Scales with your Company
These are just some of the top signs that you’ve outgrown your current ERP and are in need of an enterprise technology upgrade. Working with Vursor as an implementation partner, you can leverage NetSuite’s implementation methodology, which will help your company get up and running on your new cloud ERP in 100 days or less. NetSuite’s Financials First solution focuses on core financial management with preconfigured reports and dashboards for roles like controller and CFO.
With NetSuite in place, your company can then expand its use of the system at its own pace. With a comprehensive ERP system in your corner, you’ll be able to ditch the onerous manual processes in favor of automation, thus freeing up staff for analysis and tasks that grow profits. Reports generated from the platforms include drill down capabilities and they deliver insights into the entire organization—from finance and sales to customer and product data, and all points in between.