Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) News & Articles

10 Criteria to Select and Compare ERP Vendors

Choosing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is one of the most important decisions a business can make. To be sure, there’s plenty to consider — not only the ERP systems’ features, cost and deployment model…

12 Core ERP Features: Benefits and FAQ

Looking to make the finance team more efficient and improve business operations? Today’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems integrate and automate essential financial and operational functions and provide a…

12 SaaS KPIs: Growth and Revenue, Sales, Marketing and Customer Success

Use SaaS KPIS to drive business improvement. Learn about top KPIs, formulas, calculations, examples and benchmarks. Download a free cheat sheet.…

14 SaaS Metrics for Financial, Marketing, Sales and Customer Success

We share everything you need to know about metrics relevant to software-as-a-service (SaaS) firms, including the most important measures, formulas, examples and calculations, as well as how to improve where…

15 Benefits of ERP for Businesses in 2022

If you’re just beginning to consider adopting an ERP system, one of your first questions is likely how this software can help your business. An ERP system serves as a central database for your entire company, offering…

15 Supply Chain Best Practices to Adopt in 2021

Supply chain management spans multiple business units, external vendors and internal supply chain team stakeholders. Effective supply chain management requires the right people, making the right decisions based…

15 Use Cases for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

If you’re a business owner or finance leader, you likely already know the “what” of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software: It’s a unified database and set of applications that brings together financials, supply chain…

19 Key Cloud Computing Trends to Watch in 2022

As organizations embrace data-driven business models, remote and hybrid work environments and global supply chains, cloud computing is more popular than ever. New capabilities and deployment models continue…

3 Successful ERP Implementation Case Studies

What do a maker of grooming products for men, a fast-growing moving business and a specialized shipping logistics provider have in common? All three had…

32 Business Automation Statistics for 2021

Business process automation (BPA), where technologies like virtual agents or cognitive engines built into software take over routine tasks, makes companies more efficient and agile. In the past few years, in fact, BPA…

4 Key ERP Implementation Strategies

Transitioning to a new ERP system is a major undertaking for any organization. Case studies of a wide range of companies show that, as with…

5 Ways to Improve Your Net Promoter Score

Stellar customer support scores are great. What’s even better? When your product or service is intrinsic to your customer’s success — and you can prove it. That’s the goal of measuring customer success KPIs, where you…

60 Critical ERP Statistics: 2021 Market Trends, Data and Analysis

An enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is the key to integrating different business functions across an organization. Rather than data living in silos, it’s integrated into a single digital space so business platforms such…

6 Key Phases of an ERP Implementation Plan

Implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system can be a complex undertaking that affects many parts of the business. As with any major initiative, a carefully designed implementation plan is critical. Dividing…

7 Key ERP Implementation Challenges and Risks

An enterprise resources planning (ERP) system can improve business productivity and efficiency by automating processes and providing a centralized source of data for all teams at your company. But an ERP…

73 Essential Manufacturing Metrics and KPIs to Guide Your Industrial Transformation

This guide lists the most useful manufacturing metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs). Learn which measurements can help your business, how to monitor them with dashboards and take data-driven actions to…

8 ERP Trends for 2021

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions have matured and expanded their reach to support most business functions, from back-end processes like accounting, HR, procurement and manufacturing to front-office…

9 Key ERP Implementation Best Practices

Implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is a big step for any organization. ERP software supports an organization’s primary business processes, such as accounting, budgeting, inventory management…

9 Key KPIs for ERP Implementations

Implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is a complex, time-intensive endeavor, but it also represents a golden opportunity for companies to rethink their strategies, goals and…

A Comprehensive Guide to Field Service Metrics & Key Performance Indicators

This guide provides a broad collection of field service management metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs). Learn which measurements work best for your business, how to monitor them and what actions to take…

A Comprehensive Guide to Operational Metrics & KPIs

Operational metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) allow a business to measure the status of its operations and strategies. Learn which KPIs to track and what they can tell you about the health of your…

A Comprehensive Guide to Supply Chain Metrics & KPIs

Supply chain leaders are constantly seeking an edge—they know that even a modest technical or process improvement, multiplied on the scale of modern supplier networks, can pay huge competitive and cost-saving…

Area Charts: The Complete Guide

Without repeating a particular cliché comparing the value of a picture to 1,000 words, there’s no doubt that adding a graphical element to communication can significantly increase its effectiveness. Clear, effective and…

Building a Successful ERP Implementation Team

Organizations choose to implement an enterprise resource management (ERP) system for many reasons, including to increase productivity, create a better experience for customers and reduce costs. An ERP system…

Building an ERP Business Case: How-To & Template

Because ERP consolidates and automates critical business processes like accounting, inventory management, HR, CRM, financial planning and more, implementing it is both an exciting and serious undertaking that takes…

Business Intelligence Strategy: Steps, Best Practices and Templates

Learn about business intelligence (BI) strategies, including how to develop your own, best practices, and why you need one. Download free templates that can help you create a successful…

Buying an ERP System: Features, Benefits and Reasons You Should

For a business to take advantage of market opportunities, its information must be consistent, accurate, updated in real time and actionable. As businesses grow and operations become more complex, executives often…

Centralized BI: What Is It & What Are the Benefits?

As companies gain new customers, expand to new markets and create new products, it can become more difficult to get a clear view of what’s happening across the entire business. That’s typically the case when various…

Choose the Best Modern ERP for Your Business

Based in the cloud, modern ERP provides a more integrated, scalable approach to growing a business and streamlining operations.…

Choosing the Right Global ERP System for Your Business

As businesses expand into multiple countries, geographies, and subsidiaries, company leaders need to ensure that their ERP systems are able to support and enhance their new business models. This means identifying…

CRM vs ERP: What’s the Difference?

Businesses looking to automate core business processes typically look at two main software solutions, enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM). ERP helps companies run…

Customer Attrition (Churn) Explained

Say you spend $100 on marketing to convert a prospect into a buyer, who then purchases $50 in goods or services but never returns. That’s customer attrition, and it’s costly. Strong customer retention requires…

Data Discovery: What Is It & Why Is It Important?

Businesses rely on data to make crucial decisions every day, but the quality of their data analyses varies tremendously. Unless they have an in-house data science team, few companies have the bandwidth or…

Demand Planning: What It is and Why It’s Important

Demand planning is a cross-functional process that helps businesses meet customer demand for products while minimizing excess inventory and avoiding supply chain disruptions. It can increase profitability and…

Descriptive Analytics Defined: Benefits & Examples

Business analytics helps organizations make better decisions and improve performance by identifying patterns and trends in vast amounts of data. Descriptive analytics is the most basic and widely used type of analytics; it’s…

Digital Supply Chain Explained

Commerce disruptions driven by tariffs, trade wars and a global pandemic have catapulted supply chains into the forefront of business conversation. Suddenly, concepts like supply chain risk, visibility and resilience—once…

Distribution Management: Definition, Advantages & Strategies

Distribution management has long been a business challenge. Raw goods can arrive too early and go bad before they are used. Or, finished products can arrive too late, allowing a competitor to seize the lion’s portion of…

ERP and Business Intelligence: Why Your Business Needs Both

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a mainstay technology in businesses that want to gather, analyze and share insights among multiple departments, such as accounting, operations, manufacturing and sales, from a…

ERP Data Migration Tips and Best Practices

Data migration is a vital—but sometimes challenging—step in implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. At the heart of every ERP system is a shared database that enables employees across the organization…

ERP Implementation Best Practices

No matter what type of business you're in, implementing an ERP solution is a critical project that must be taken seriously. From concerns about cost and demonstrating ROI, to practical considerations about who will…

ERP Implementation Checklist: Methodology & Steps

Preparing the success for a pending ERP implementation is the first step you can take to be successful throughout the whole process. There is rarely a “perfect” ERP implementation, but careful planning and understanding the steps…

ERP Implementation Plan: Methodology and Process

Enterprise resources planning (ERP) solutions are designed to support an organization in just about every aspect of business operations by centralizing data and through automation. These platforms control internal…

ERP Modules: Types, Features & Functions

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have become a critical tool for businesses over the past several decades. An ERP solution automates critical business processes and serves as a…

ERP Requirements Gathering Template: Checklist and Best Practices

This enterprise resource planning (ERP) requirements checklist helps you choose the system that will benefit your business the most. The right ERP system can bring order to chaos by integrating and automating disparate business processes…

ERP Upgrades: Benefits, Timing & Checklist

The world has changed considerably in the years—or decades—since many organizations installed their enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. And, at the same time, ERP systems themselves have undergone a…

Essential Guide to ERP Inventory Management

Companies that excel at inventory management drive the maximum amount of profit—and customer satisfaction—from the least amount of investment in stock. And as we see from those efficient businesses…

Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A): Practices, Roles, Responsibilities, and Functions

Financial planning and analysis (FP&A) professionals own the financial planning, budgeting and forecasting process at a company to inform major decisions made by the executive team and board of directors. These employees collect, prepare and…

Funnel Charts: An Expert Guide for Businesses

When you’re choosing a chart to illustrate data, you might start with one of the more common formats, like a bar, pie or line chart. Another type — funnel charts — are a great choice for depicting certain processes that are…

Getting Your Finance Processes in Shape for FASB's New Revenue Recognition Rules

What do Apple, Best Buy, NetSuite and Sears all have in common? They all sell multi-element products, whether it's a refrigerator sold with a maintenance contract, a smart-phone sold with "more than…

Going Global: Is it time to streamline your ERP?

Almost all reasonable size organizations use some software system to integrate and control various business operations. And as businesses expand through M&A activity, JVs, etc., they tend to start dealing with a…

Heat Maps: Types, Benefits & How to Use Them

Heat maps help you understand how users and customers interact with your website, giving insight into things like where they’re looking and how far down they’re scrolling. This information can help you set up your site in a…

How ERP Optimizes Procurement Processes

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems bring disparate parts of a business into one secure, centralized place. Procurement professionals and managers with the right access can tap into a plethora of data and…

Initial Public Offering (IPO) Defined

For some companies, going public is the hallmark of success. But transitioning into a publicly traded enterprise is an expensive and demanding process, rife with regulatory complexities — and with no guarantee of success.…

Inline Analytics Defined: Use Cases & Examples

Inline analytics let employees analyze data within core business systems so they don't need to switch between tools and can more quickly adopt and gain value from analytics.…

Inventory Management in the Cloud

Inventory management is about knowing what products to have on hand and when to have them on hand. It's about understanding what you have in your warehouse and where your stock is located. It means maintaining…

Key Order Fulfillment KPIs Explained

Order fulfillment is the process of fulfilling a sales order to the customer’s specifications and delivering goods as promised. As consumers increasingly move online to shop, it’s more important than ever to get order fulfillment…

Logistics for Business Defined: Importance Role & Benefits

You many not think of Napoleon Bonaparte as a logistician. But his axiom that “an army marches on its stomach”—that is, keeping forces well-provisioned is fundamental to success in war—launched logistics as a…

Managed Reporting Defined: What It Is & Benefits

Reporting is a critical step in the business intelligence (BI) process, involving the use of BI software or tools to prepare data and deliver actionable insights. The most effective BI reporting presents information that is not only accurate and trustworthy, but easily consumable for business users…

NetSuite Modules Guide: Key Modules, Pricing & FAQs

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have become a critical tool for businesses over the past several decades. An ERP solution automates critical business processes and serves as a shared database for all financial…

Number Crunching in Finance Defined

Most people have no doubt heard the phrase “number crunching.” It conjures up images of processing large amounts of data to make some sort of conclusion. Like crunching the numbers to determine a monthly…

Order Management Systems: What Is an OMS and How Does it Work?

An order management system (OMS) not only supports all the stages in your company’s sales process, from order creation through customer delivery, it makes quick work of the logistics challenges inherent in an…

Progress Payments Defined: A Guide for Construction Contractors

Concerns about cash flow are top of mind for construction companies and contractors — and for good reason: These businesses typically lay out tens of thousands of dollars for project-related expenses and don't get paid…

Project Benchmarking Guide: Approaches, Metrics & Best Practices

Benchmarking in project management is a way to use data to determine if a project is meeting its goals. This article explores the benefits of project management benchmarking and metrics to use to measure success…

Pros and Cons of ERP Consolidation & Best Practices

As businesses grow and operations become more complex, it’s natural for them to add new software systems such as an inventory management system, specialized software to help handle accounts payable (AP) ands…

Pros and Cons of Using an ERP

The cornerstone of a modern financial practice is easy access to data from sources including general ledger (GL), payroll and accounts payable and receivable. Automating as many financial and operational processes as…

Revenue Recognition in the Cloud

Staying on top of revenue recognition is a major challenge. Getting it right means keeping pace with fast-changing licensing and distribution models, managing the complexities of multi-element contracts…

SaaS ERP Explained

SaaS ERP is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that runs in the ERP vendor’s data center, rather than on the purchasing organization’s servers and infrastructure (known as on-premises ERP), allowing the…

SaaS ERP vs. Cloud ERP: What’s the Difference?

Any business with more than a few employees benefits from a tighter connection between its operational and financial data and functions. And the more automated those links, the better. That’s the simple idea behind…

Scaling to Grow: Financial Consolidation in the Cloud

Virtually every company wants to grow—it's the nature of business. But with expansion comes the growing pains of financial consolidation that can encompass multiple divisions, subsidiaries and locations…

Supply Chain Analytics: What It Is & Why It Matters

The supply chain is a critical piece of the puzzle for business success, because it directly affects a company’s ability to provide a positive customer experience while also accounting for many of the expenses that affect…

Supply Chain Defined

A supply chain is a coordinated network that includes all the companies, facilities and business activities involved in sourcing, developing, manufacturing and delivering products. Each business relies on its supply…

Supply Chain Management vs Logistics: Differences, Similarities and Roles

There are plenty of similarities between supply chain management (SCM) and logistics, but there are key differences that separate the two practices. Understanding the role each plays can help companies make…

Supply Chain Planning: Strategy, Processes and Practices

Supply chain planning helps your business meet customer demand in the most efficient way possible. But to increase profitability and keep demand from outstripping supply, every step in the supply chain planning…

Supply Chain Sustainability: Why It Is Important & Best Practices

In recent years, customers, employees, investors and governments have put increasing pressure on companies to demonstrate greater environmental stewardship and social responsibility. This comes at a time when the…

The Benefits of Integrating Your Inventory Software with Your Accounting and Back-Office Processes

Inventory management is about knowing what you have in your warehouse and where your stock is located. However, unless it's integrated with your back-office systems, an inventory management system alone can't…

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The History of ERP

An enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is the key to integrating critical business functions across an organization. The widespread growth of ERP system adoption illustrates the importance of ERP to successful…

Top 12 Signs That You’re Outgrowing QuickBooks

QuickBooks is the entry into accounting software for many businesses, thanks to its low price point and relative simplicity. However, it is an entry-level accounting system and growing businesses quickly come to understand…

Top 4 ERP Skills: In-Demand Skills for ERP Professionals

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are powerful and complex tools for managing your business. Qualified professionals with ERP skills help keep projects on track, and like many technology specialists, they…

Top Sage Intacct Alternative for Accounting in 2021

Businesses that have outgrown the basic capabilities of entry-level accounting systems like QuickBooks, along with companies seeking to move on from legacy, on-premises systems like Microsoft Dynamics or older…

Ultimate Guide to Bubble Charts

Sometimes visualizations are a much better way to convey information, show trends or really drive home a point. Bubble charts are one valuable type of data visualization tool that can help businesses analyze data and…

Ultimate Guide to Procurement Management for 2021

The process of acquiring goods and services can be complex and involve multiple stakeholders. Procurement teams must carefully balance the needs of the departments they serve with budget limitations. They must also…

Ultimate Guide to Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)

Product lifecycle management (PLM) is the process of developing, planning, manufacturing, distributing, marketing, selling and servicing products. PLM is a business discipline that looks at products and services at…

Top 10 Reasons for Cloud ERP Adoption in 2021

Cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) adoption has risen exponentially in recent years, and that trend shows no signs of slowing down. In April 2021, a press release from research firm Gartner stated that…

Top Restaurant Benchmarks You Need Now

Restaurant benchmarking is the process of evaluating a chain’s or single restaurant’s practices, products and services against industry standards. Benchmarks cover various aspects of a food service business. You measure…

Using the Cloud to Manage a High-Performing Workforce

The business world is constantly changing and companies are continuously thinking about what to do next. Where should the company invest next? Which company should be acquired next? Where should the…

What Is Authentication? Definition

Authentication systems are the cornerstone of information security. Learn how authentication makes your network and your users secure.…

What Is Authorization? Definition & Examples

What information is an employee or a user allowed to access? This question can be surprisingly complex, especially for organizations employing hundreds or thousands of people. Considerations for how best to decide…

What is a Bill of Materials (BOM)? Expert Guide & Tips

An essential step in manufacturing is completing a bill of materials, or BOM. Also referred to as an assembly component list, product structure or product recipe, a BOM is fundamental to the effectiveness of multiple…

What Is a Chart & Why Is It Important for Businesses?

A well-known adage says, "a picture is worth a thousand words." Pictures can capture attention, quickly convey information and clarify complex concepts. And, research shows, images can be effective in business.…

What Is a Key Performance Indicator (KPI)? The Ultimate Guide

An essential step in manufacturing is completing a bill of materials, or BOM. Also referred to as an assembly component list, product structure or product recipe, a BOM is fundamental to the effectiveness of multiple…

What is a Perpetual Inventory System

Inventory management may not sound sexy, but the ability to track goods or materials is essential to the health of any business. Accurate information about inventory helps managers reduce waste, meet…

What Is Advanced Analytics? Why Is It Important?

Many businesses have volumes of internal and external data at their disposal, yet their leaders continue to make decisions based on gut, past experience or one-dimensional analysis. In the past, analyzing data that resides in…

What Is an Extranet?

Long before software-as-a-service and cloud computing emerged, organizations used extranets to provide external partners and other trusted third parties with secure and controlled access to their internal applications…

What Is Business Intelligence? BI Defined

Understanding what’s happening across all areas of the business is critically important if you expect to remain competitive. However, when data is stored in silos, decision-makers struggle to even track key performance…

What Is Cloud Analytics? How it Works & Benefits Businesses

If you run a business that produces and uses any type of data set, you should know about cloud analytics. Cloud analytics is data collection, tracking and analysis that happens on systems hosted in the cloud, rather than in…

What Is Cloud Computing? The Ultimate Guide

Cloud computing has become an increasingly attractive option for growing businesses. Rather than owning on-premises IT infrastructure, with the attendant time-consuming and expensive configuration, maintenance and…

What is Cloud ERP and How Does It Work?

Cloud ERP is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that runs on a vendor’s cloud platform as opposed to an on-premises network, allowing organizations to access over the internet. ERP software integrates and…

What Is CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote)?

Businesses need to quickly and accurately deliver quotes to prospective customers. But businesses that sell highly configurable products often face a big challenge doing even that crucial core task. Having a robust…

What Is Customer Retention? Importance, Metrics & Strategies

Customer retention plays a crucial role in the success and lasting sustainability of a business. When done right, it can also increase a company’s profits. The key to a high customer retention is to determine what’s causing customers…

What Is Data Crunching & Why Is It Important?

Analyzing large amounts of data can yield business insights that help companies identify opportunities to increase revenue and cut costs. Raw data often needs some preliminary work before it’s ready for analysis. Data…

What Is ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)?

Growing companies eventually reach a point where spreadsheets no longer cut it. That’s where enterprise resource planning software comes in: ERP systems collect and organize key business information and help…

What Is Field Services Management? Benefits, Challenges, Examples and Best Practices

Having employees work outside the office adds another layer of complexity to management. HVAC, health care, construction and other similar industries commonly need to consider how best to approach field services…

What Is Hybrid ERP and What Are Its Advantages?

You may think when it comes to choosing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software system to run your business, you have to make a hard choice between on-premises software or a cloud-based solution…

What Is NetSuite? History, Features and FAQs

In the late 1990s, “cloud” was not a word most people associated with technology. It was certainly not recognized as the future of software…

What Is OLAP? OLAP Defined

OLAP was developed to overcome the limits of two-dimensional data in conventional spreadsheets and databases. Here's how it works, its uses and pros and cons.…

What is Order Fulfillment? 7 Step Process & Key Strategies

While order fulfillment is, by definition, the method by which a company processes a sales order to the customer’s specifications, that understates its importance. Customers hold more…

What Is Order Management? The Ultimate Guide

Order management begins as soon as a customer places an order. For a small business, order management can be a relatively simple and manual process — a few orders picked from a modest inventory, manually packed…

What Is Order Processing? 5 Steps & 10 Tips to Improve

In an increasingly digital world, it’s only natural that ecommerce is one of the fastest-growing industries. To keep up with that demand, companies need to improve their order processing workflow — the journey from when an…

What is SaaS (Software-as-a-Service)? Advantages, Challenges, and FAQs

Software-as-a-Service, commonly called “SaaS”, is a distinct form of cloud computing in which users access a complete software solution from an internet-connected device. Unlike traditional software, where a customer…

What Is Supply Chain Execution (SCE)?

Doing business today requires ever-faster shipping of products to increasingly demanding customers, who are often spread around the world. That explains why supply chain execution has become so pivotal to companies’…

What Is Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Why Is It Important?

Every day, consumers around the globe receive orders at their doorsteps and pick goods from shelves with little thought about how items go from raw materials to manufacturer and into their hands. That ease and …

What Is Supply Chain Visibility (SCV)? Definition & Examples

Better visibility into complex supply chains translates to fewer disruptions, increased customer satisfaction and lower costs. A supply chain visibility (SCV) project empowers product teams to spot and fix weaknesses in the …

What is Two-Tier ERP and How Does It Work?

As a company expands, whether organically or through mergers and acquisitions, the benefits of a unified view into financial systems don’t diminish. If anything, it becomes more…

What is Warehouse Management? Benefits, Processes, & Strategies

Any business that stores items in a warehouse knows that effective management is the difference between fulfilling customer orders quickly and accurately while keeping costs down versus hearing complaints about…

What Is a Business Accelerator?

For young companies with passionate founders, minimum viable products and big dreams, membership in a business accelerator can provide the thrust needed to clear barriers to growth. Top slots come with teams of…

What Is a Warehouse Management System (WMS)?

In an era of booming global digital commerce, the limits of traditional warehouse management processes are constantly tested. To keep up with customer expectations for fast, accurate, on-time shipping — without…

Why Move to Cloud ERP? 12 Reasons & Benefits

Businesses often rely on enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to consolidate and organize information across the organization. Historically, companies installed ERP software on local servers and other infrastructure…

ERP/Back Office Articles