ERP systems: Not just for manufacturing and retail

3 min read

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems bring together core functionality around finance, purchasing, HR and payroll. While these functions are common to all businesses, this type of system can have significant benefits for professional services organisations.

However, such systems have often been seen as too complex and/or expensive, but this is no longer the case. In fact, there are a number of ERP systems that are specifically designed for professional services organisations, and they can offer a number of benefits.

One of the biggest advantages of an ERP system for professional services organisations is that it can help to improve efficiency. By automating many of the manual tasks that are involved in running a professional services business, such as time tracking, billing, and invoicing, the technology can free up staff time so that they can focus on more important tasks, such as providing excellent customer service.

Another benefit is that it can help to improve visibility into the business. An ERP system provides a central repository for all of the data that is generated by a business, such as sales data, financial data, and customer information. This data can be used to track performance, identify trends, and make better business decisions.

Finally, it can help to improve compliance. By automating compliance tasks, providing a central repository for compliance data, generating compliance reports, and providing training and education on compliance, an ERP system can help professional services organisations to reduce the risk of non-compliance and to protect themselves from fines and penalties.

Overall, an ERP system can offer a number of benefits for professional services organisations. 

• Improved profitability: help to improve profitability by providing insights into costs and profitability. This information can be used to make better decisions about pricing, resource allocation, and marketing.
• Increased productivity: help to increase productivity by automating tasks such as time tracking, billing, and invoicing. This can free up staff time so that they can focus on more important tasks, such as providing excellent customer service.
• Improved client communication: help to improve client communication by providing a central place for storing and sharing project information. This can help to ensure that everyone involved in a project is on the same page and that clients are kept up-to-date on progress.

If you are a professional services organisation, and you haven’t already considered and ERP, it’s definitely worth thinking about. If you are considering implementing an ERP system, be sure to do your research and choose a system that is suits your specific requirements – our fully integrated system versus best of breed new eBook might be a useful starting point.