Is Cloud ERP Right for Your Business? 5 Questions Manufacturers Need to Ask to Find Out!

Cloud ERP may be right for your manufacturing business, but where do you start? Begin with a few questions.

Over the last few years, Software as a Service (SaaS) has become a compelling and credible delivery model for business applications. SaaS, also referred to as “on-demand” or “cloud computing,” eliminates many of the barriers that keep companies from implementing or upgrading their software. More important, it enables you to focus on your core business operations instead of managing IT. Any cloud-based ERP solution needs to meet your business operational and process requirements on a feature and functionality level – benefiting your entire manufacturing operation.

Is Cloud ERP right for your manufacturing operation? Ask yourself a few questions:

1. Does the solution support your manufacturing process? Most ERP solutions don’t support the specific needs of manufacturers. It’s important to determine that the solution not only supports manufacturing, but also your specific manufacturing type. Is your business a make-to-order, make-to-stock, or mixed-mode manufacturer? Does the system have the necessary functionality to help you easily and effectively manage job costs, engineering, inventory, scheduling, and production? Will it support your strategic initiatives? Can the vendor demonstrate where it will help you lower operating costs and help increase profits?
2. Can the solution be easily modified to meet your company’s specific processes? No ERP solution comes out of the box and perfectly meets every organization’s needs. While one that has been specifically developed for manufacturers and comes delivered with built-in “best practices” may address the majority of your requirements, there still are processes that are unique to an organization. Many cloud-based ERP packages still run on old technology, with rigid platforms and architectures that cannot be easily customized without cumbersome tools or costly source code changes. This, of course, diminishes the value of the ERP system. The solution should have embedded tools that are easy to use for modifying or extending the value of the system.
3. How does the solution support the manufacturing/shop floor? The shop floor is the heart of a manufacturer. The solution needs to tie what is actually happening on the floor back to the office. It needs to provide those who are actually doing the work the ability to enter data and share it in real-time with the rest of the company. The flow of data is critical for accurate job costing, managing jobs, inventory control, and tracking labor. All of which support effectively managing costs and improving margins.
4. Does the solution provide functionality for the broader organization? The solution should support the “extended enterprise.” Some solutions only provide functionality for specific areas of a business  – customer relationship management, financials, production. Look for a solution that provides functionality for your organization as a whole. A comprehensive, integrated solution eliminates the need for separate applications, spreadsheets, and “work arounds.” More importantly, if the solution is built on a common database, entered data flows through the system from step to step, streamlining processes and providing improved customer, operational, and financial visibility across the organization.
5. What performance management and reporting tools are delivered as part of the solution? A principal concept of ERP solutions is that they should simplify the process of taking raw data and turning it into useful information. A good solution should provide embedded and ancillary tools that are easy to use and can pull together data from across your organization. From operational reporting, to tracking key performance information, to supporting advanced performance analysis, the included tools should support real-time decision making, optimally managing operations and strategic planning.

Highly flexible and scalable, ERP solutions, such as Epicor ERP, can be deployed to fit a manufacturers unique operational needs, resources, and budget, including on-site installation, hosted, or as a SaaS or cloud application. Epicor, for example, offers cloud ERP innovation, providing manufacturers of all sizes feature-rich enterprise resource planning solutions with functionally identical to on-premises – allowing manufacturers positioning for growth to embrace the cloud on their own terms, while increasing agility, simplifying administration and reducing costs. The benefits and capabilities of cloud-based ERP can help manufacturing organizations increase efficiencies and decrease costs, which, in turn, enable growth in increasingly competitive markets. ERP brings to manufacturing new levels of agility, scalability, efficiency and productivity – not to mention advanced analytics for better business intelligence.

Epicor Cloud ERP

CompuData works with manufacturers every day to leverage the advantages of Epicor ERP in the cloud, combining the rich feature set of Epicor ERP with the business and technical benefits of cloud deployment. CompuData’s cloud-based Epicor ERP expertise eliminates the need for separate applications and spreadsheets – powering an integrated ERP environment capable of sustaining growth. For more information on growing your manufacturing business, contact CompuData today!