5 Reasons You Need to Upgrade to ERP Accounting Software
Small business founders and executives learn early on that they must wear many hats and take on several responsibilities to expand and succeed. Agility is especially crucial in today’s commercial world, and your accounting software capabilities need to be as agile as you are. Spreadsheets are fantastic for tracking your financial data—to a point. Eventually, you’re going to need a more dynamic and automated enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform to manage financial data and generate crucial reports and forecasts. So how do you know when it’s time to upgrade?
Broken or Slow Systems
Managing financial data with a spreadsheet requires hands-on time and updates. Additionally, small errors can quickly snowball into disasters. When you upgrade to an ERP system such as SAGE ERP or Acumatica, you eliminate some of the guesswork instantly, freeing up a great deal of your organization’s financial department resources for better use elsewhere. Data management through spreadsheets is not only outdated and nowhere near as comprehensive as an ERP platform, but it also wastes valuable hours of the day for everyone involved.
No Room for Growth
Some reports simply can’t be generated using Excel or basic spreadsheet software. As your company grows, you’ll need to create new and relevant reports covering various aspects of the business. The amount of data you’ll have to work with is going to balloon as well, and the metrics that you use to analyze that data will grow increasingly complex. You need a platform that can automate basic tasks, including data input, and generate complex, meaningful reports with that information.
Increasing Obligations
When companies grow and expand the scope of their operations, many inevitably face additional regulatory demands. Compliance with oversight agencies is critical for growing businesses. A hiccup in this regard can lead to a forced shutdown—and that can be a death sentence for a growing small enterprise.
Mounting regulatory demands should be a clear sign that it’s time to invest in ERP software if you haven’t already. You can’t afford to let your company fail due to simple bookkeeping errors or an inability to stay competitive because you’re locked into outdated methods.
More Data—And More That Must Be Done With It
Data is one of the most valuable commodities on the planet, especially for businesses. Small businesses rely on customer data to stay profitable and expand, and as a company grows, it needs to use collected data to maximum effect. Eventually, company leadership is going to ask you for forecasts and reports that you can’t create using traditional spreadsheet software. As your organization grows, you’re also going to need to manipulate an increasing amount of employee data.
When you adopt and move to an ERP platform for your financial strategies, you’ll have a wealth of new tools to create useful, articulate, detailed reports covering various aspects of your organization. Forecasting is a priority for financial professionals today, and an ERP system can make it a much more streamlined and accurate process.
Cost Management
You have to spend money to make money, but growing businesses need to have reliable back-end systems that aren’t going to chew through the budget. It may be time to consider a new ERP system in order to store your data securely and affords you peace of mind along with a host of improved capabilities.
These are just a few examples of what an ERP software suite like Acumatica ERP or Sage ERP can offer you and your organization. Embrace greater agility, free up valuable resources, and create more useful and comprehensive reports—all while moving your company forward through the digital age.
Written by Kayley Bell, Chief Operating Officer at DSD Business Systems
