The digital transformation witnessed in business is significant and spreads across all functions. Companies find tools like Enterprise Resource Planning crucial in their operations. There are many upsides associated with implementing an effective ERP system, and monitoring your business health is one. Here is how ERP is your business health monitor and how you can use it to improve performance.
How ERP Helps Monitor Business Health
Data Management
ERP eliminates all struggles related to data management in your business, ensuring your data is accurate and valuable. The system automatically records and processes your information, reducing exposure to human errors or external interference. Automating most functions allows employees to spend less time keying in and analyzing data.
Instead of having your workforce spend hours balancing your books, why not let an ERP automate these functions? Monitoring performance and business health will also become more manageable since all the data is easily accessible.
Promotes Transparency
Transparency is a crucial aspect when running any business. You need to maintain high transparency levels in your operations to ensure everything is running smoothly and your business remains healthy. Implementing an effective ERP system in your business helps improve transparency and helps you evade dangerous business-crippling financial discrepancies.
The system focuses on tracking and recording all financial transactions. These transactions include calculating revenue, evaluation, and stock and are guaranteed error-free. ERP also lets you get real-time business financial reports, which are crucial in decision-making and performance monitoring.
Helps Identify Opportunities and Setbacks
A business aware of its strongholds and weaknesses is better positioned for success and continuity. Implementing an ERP system can provide your organization with a functional overview to identify potential opportunities and setbacks. The system helps track your business performance and provides the data in real time.
You can use the data to monitor your business health and make more informed performance decisions. Real-time tracking helps find any problems early; you will know when stocks are below the minimum, what items have poor sales, and how much profit to expect.
Boosts Customer Experience
Satisfied customers significantly determine how well a business performs. Your ERP system will help your operations succeed by ensuring every interaction with your clients is productive and they are left happy and satisfied. Your service to your customers can either build your business or act as a setback to optimum performance.
Performance reporting provides data metrics that you can use to boost customer experience and ensure you maximize their satisfaction. The data helps you understand what your customers want and how you can deliver them.
Different Types of Reporting Your ERP Can Run
There are multiple types of reports involved in business ERP systems. This section explains the different report types and how to use the information to improve your operations.
Accounting Reports
Accounting reports focus more on the financial transactions of your business. The trial balance helps provide a detailed statement of all your related debit and credit balance details for every GL account.
Accounting Seed is a powerful add-on that guarantees real-time data for your financial reports. If you want to run your business more strategically and proactively, it is time you consider including the tool in your ERP reporting system.
Financials Reports
Financial reports are also crucial when running any business, and your ERP system will help in the automation. It includes:
- Income statement which involves running an income statement during a given period for your business
- Comparative income statement to compare income statements from one time period to another and help with budgeting and forecasting
- Cash flow statement that allows running business cash flows for a given time
Inventory Reports
- Inventory valuation helps run a report on the business’s inventory for a given period
- Inventory value detail report allows you to run a valuation report based on the authentic inventory items your business owns
- Sales and profitability analysis helps run a profit report for specific products by analyzing gross profits from the sales metrics recorded
ERP Features That Help with Performance Reporting
You can view key performance indicators quickly using customizable dashboards for all business functions.
You can create customized reports without coding knowledge using a drag-to-drop visual report builder.
The system allows you to design and automate business models supporting workflows.
Real-time advanced data visualization and analytics help you discover actionable business insights.
You receive alerts and notifications about what is happening in your business.
ERP service providers like GoldFinch collaborate with other tools to improve productivity and customer satisfaction through connecting with all the stakeholders.
How to Optimize ERP Reporting
Enable Self-Service Reporting
Creating reports traditionally heavily relied on IT specialists and field professionals. However, ERP systems promote self-service reporting by doing away with all the cumbersome procedures. The system is so intuitive that even non-technical users with minimal training can operate and create reports in seconds.
Maximize on Automation
To optimize ERP reporting, you must replace manual inputs with automation. Manual manipulation is time-consuming and consumes more resources, making it a setback in your operations. Your automation efforts will allow you to automatically pull live data from different functions and key it into pre-made ERP report templates for easier and faster analysis.
Build System Flexibility
Regular reporting is crucial to business performance. While relying on a typical reporting pattern every time leads to stale performances, nobody wants to create custom reports because of the time and input required. Your ERP system will help optimize reporting by allowing you to toggle between different metrics, access real-time data, and recontextualize reporting data.
How Essential is Real-Time Data when Creating Reports?
When creating reports for your business, you must leverage real-time data. The data allows your business to reach its optimal productivity by ensuring you use updated information to make decisions. Your business will become better positioned to minimize risks, improve its financial health, and understand your customers more by observing current trends and changes.
Conclusion
ERP is a tool every business should consider for business health monitoring and guaranteeing organizational continuity. You can use GoldFinch ERP, Accounting Seed, and Salesforce as reporting tools to mine data from different functions within your business. The information in our article is enough to educate all executives on the significance of performance reporting through ERP. But, if you would like to learn more (especially about your specific business needs), contact us today!
