3 advantages of integrated ERP systems

In many ways the reality of a fully-integrated ERP platform feels even better than envisioning its conceptual construct; particularly since the concept alone is a pretty impressive value from a competitive advantage perspective. Look at it this way; today’s dynamic economic climate typically involves hosts of moving administrative and operational parts just to get a simple product designed, produced and delivered to a customer base.

In the past, these elemental requirements posed problems for providers, managers, operators and customers. Early-stage ERP platforms were typically supported by one or more stove-piped RDBMS variants that rarely processed ‘everything’ from the materials level, to product inception, delivery/receipt of all final payments, and ultimately customer validation. They certainly didn’t develop and create dynamic business intelligence leading to visible and largely standardized milestones regarding overall business performance. Now, all of that has changed, because ERP systems have become pervasive, flexible, mobile, and entirely subsumed, while at the same time largely supported by the Internet of Things (IoT).

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Consequently, if a common production complex made up of disparate functional departments is patient and persistent enough, all production stakeholders including senior managers and shop floor users finally have an ability to measure, vet and interact with datasets within a particular commercial chain, along with delivering a clear understanding of how these datasets interact in real-time.

1. Enterprise visibility across all functional and cross-functional departments

While there are hosts of useful internal BI values associated with integrated ERP, more than anything, these platforms allow operators to visualize, monitor, measure and manage all processes within a production complex. These include human capital, finance, product development, procurement, ops/sales/CSR, ops/manufacturing and asset management, in addition to cross-functional disciplines such as; QA, environmental and safety compliance, in/outbound logistics, and inventory/warehousing.

2. Entirely collaborative supply-chain management

Regardless of scale, ERP implemented in production complexes can integrate raw materials providers, manufacturing, logistical and distribution hubs, with customer service. This integration allows the sharing of valuable commercial information in real-time, while collaborating and trimming end-to-end efficiencies to ensure that all stakeholders experience a complete view of the supply chain.

3. Global data synchronization

Once near and mid-stage operational processes are largely stabilized, the data visibility afforded by fully-integrated ERP platforms really pick up speed, since these end-to-end production complexes are built to develop, trap and deliver raw data, and drive refined information delivery in real-time. These capabilities apply across the entire global supply-chain including active synchronization between suppliers and manufacturers.