The key to long-term happiness with your Merchant ERP system
No, we’re not talking about finding a date – we’re talking about a relationship that could be much more long term: your ERP system!
Are you currently using a financial platform like Sage, Xero or Quickbooks to run your business operations and finding it’s not quite enough for your needs?
Are you still using manual systems and separate Excel documents or even paper filing systems to run your business?
Are you using an ERP system but getting frustrated at its complexity, lack of responsiveness or inability to roll with change?
We hear you.
Looking for the perfect match when it comes to an order and stock management system can be a time consuming and tricky business. Choosing a new ERP system is expensive, and it can cause a lot of disruption to your business and staff. So it really pays to be sure about getting the right fit when you’re selecting.
So without further ado, here are our 5 top tops for how to find the best ERP system for you.
Do some stalking: Ask around – get recommendations from industry colleagues and trusted friends, read case studies etc. It really, really pays to do your homework. And if you've been off the market for a long time, you might be surprised at how much things have changed since you last looked around.
Don’t commit until you’ve sampled the goods: Try the demo (assuming they have one) and really get to know how the system works before you decide to take things further. After all, it's not always love at first sight so it really does pay to know what you're getting into before you get too attached.
Make sure they’re ready for a long-term commitment: Given the rate at which tech advances, it’s important to know you’re opting for a system that will still be capable of meeting your needs in 5-10 years’ time – it needs to be future-fit, not just ready for the here and now. That means it needs to be able to integrate with other platforms and services, be updated and maintained remotely, and have the capacity to grow alongside your business
Choose a partner who really listens: Yes, the software itself is important but you’re going to have to work closely with the providers of whatever system you choose so make sure you get on with the suppliers. You need to really hear each other, and be able to have honest, constructive, healthy communication to help the relationship, and your business, flourish.
Put your own needs first and really know what you want: It’s SO important that you properly understand your needs as a business before you select a system that’s right for it. Audit your processes*, analyse how your business works and then make sure you’re choosing a system that can fit with that and grow with you – not one that you have to accommodate at every turn. It should be adding value, not creating a load of extra work,
We think you'll know when you find the right match. Choose something that feels simple to use but that has scope to grow, something that's intuitive and just gets how you do things.
It's no easy task finding a system that can help you run your business even more effectively but when you get the right match, the sparks will really fly.
If you’re thinking of looking around at new options, please consider trying our online demo system.
You get a full 30 days to try the system out, using your own data, so you can get a really good flavour of what it can do. Register here if you’re interested. And don’t worry, if the time’s not right, no hard feelings.
*If you’d like a hand, you might be interested to know that every new customer gets a full Business Process Review before every implementation to make sure each system is optimised and configured for every unique business.
