Companies You Desperately Wish Had an ERP System (like Microsoft Dynamics GP)
Posted on: October 19, 2015 | By: Craig Thompson | Microsoft Dynamics GP
Have you ever had a bad experience with a company and automatically knew that you would never buy from them again? Most people reading this can almost automatically answer “Yes!” Why is this? There can be a number of reasons, the sales person may have been pushy or rude, the store may have been messy, your shipment may have been wrong…the list goes on and on. What bothers me the most in these situations is when I know firsthand that the issues occurring could be fixed almost instantaneously with the help of an ERP system. Let me give an example.
A few months ago I was planning on purchasing a new laptop from a small computer store in my area. The sales people were friendly, the store was orderly and the selection of products was fair. My first issue arose when there was no more of a particular product that was showcased on the sales floor. The product became so popular that within days it was sold out and I was told I would have to wait until the next shipment had arrived. The company had no formal way of tracking their inventory which meant it was hard to tell how many products were currently in stock and how many products were on the verge of out of stock status. I was told that this was a frequent issue in this particular store and that customers often had to wait weeks or months to get the products they were asking for, all because the company had no way of knowing when it was time to order more.
After discovering I would have to wait three weeks for the product I needed, I decided to wait and placed my order. This in itself wasn’t the worst thing in the world because I wasn’t in dire need of a laptop, yet problems soon arose later. After waiting almost three weeks I called to see the status of my order – to my surprise the employee had no formal record of my order and could not track to see when it would be delivered – or if it had even been shipped! This was inexcusable. I quickly canceled my order (if it even existed!) and ended my relationship with this store for good.
These situations unfortunately occur frequently, even though they could easily be avoided. No matter how big or small a company is, an ERP system is necessary to keep customers around. With an ERP system, such as Microsoft Dynamics GP, your company has constant up to date access to inventory at all times. With advanced inventory search capabilities your employees can be empowered by always having accurate product information when they need it. With constant updates on product quantity count, ERP can massively decrease out of stocks by allowing reorders to happen at the precise moment they become necessary. With the right ERP system, sales, customer data and inventory data will be combined in one concise place which will ensure that customer-facing reps (such as call centers) have access to order and shipping status information whenever a customer inquires about their order.
With an ERP system, this small electronics store may have kept my business – along with many others. If you are considering ERP implementation, or know a company that could use ERP, contact Logan Consulting, your Chicago based Microsoft Dynamics GP partners.