WHAT IS ERP?
“ERP” stands for “Enterprise Resource Planning” software and it has replaced our old friend “Accounting Software”. So, why the change? We were married to “Accounting Software” for decades, and we had grown fond of the term, much like our favorite slippers. Two decades ago, “accounting software” automated the major functions of a company’s accounting department. It automated accounts payable, receivables, and printed financial statements, invoices, and vendor checks among many other things.
Computing has changed greatly since then. Laptops are now as powerful as a thousand 1980’s-era IBM mini-computers, and software developers have taken good advantage of that new storage and processing power. “Accounting software” no longer adequately describes what we sell.
In 1990, the Gartner Group first used the term “Enterprise Resource Planning”, or “ERP”, to describe the computer software systems that integrate management information throughout an entire enterprise. These systems encompass accounting and finance functions, sales and inventory, manufacturing and services, customer relationship management (CRM) and even HR systems.
ERP software allows an enterprise to make better decisions in a shorter amount of time, and to connect the enterprise to the Internet, to its customers and to its vendors and staff. A robust ERP system can predict what your customer demand will be in June, and assist you in placing an electronic order for those goods with the least expensive vendor.
Basically, ERP software is to accounting software as MS Word is to a typewriter. If you want a world-class description of the evolution of ERP software, I encourage you to visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_resource_planning.
And please visit www.dsdinc.com to check out the awesome ERP software sold and supported by DSD Business Systems.
About the Author
Doug Deane is President of DSD Business Systems, an international provider of on-demand (cloud) and on-premises ERP and CRM software, specializing in wholesale distribution, manufacturing, warehouse management, inventory, business intelligence and eCommerce software. DSD offers NetSuite Cloud ERP, NetSuite CRM, NetSuite eCommerce, Sage 100 ERP (formerly MAS 90), Sage 300 ERP (formerly Accpac), Sage 500 ERP (formerly MAS 500), Sage FAS, Sage HRMS (formerly Abra), Sage CRM, Sage SalesLogix, Sage Add-Ons (Extended Solutions), and Custom Programming. DSD has been a multi-time Sage President’s Circle award winner, a two-time Sage Gold Development Partner of the Year recipient, has been recognized by the San Diego Better Business Bureau (BBB) as a Torch Award Finalist (2009) and Torch Award Winner (2010) for Marketplace Ethics, and has been recognized by the Council of Better Business Bureaus as a 2012 International BBB Torch Award Finalist for Marketplace Excellence.
