IT
there at your fingertips to ensure you have the power to reduce waste significantly.
Efficiency
Your ERP system can help drive significant efficiencies in logistics and supply chain. Having clear and holistic control over the movement of stock and orders can help you combine orders and reduce low-volume or inefficient deliveries, but you can also improve route-mapping efficiency to reduce mileage and time spent on the road. You can also improve turnaround time and avoid waste through enhanced management of orders going directly from supplier to customer, or back-to-back deliveries through your sites.
Workforce flexibility
A cloud ERP system enables more flexible and remote working, requiring fewer staff to be on site, fewer journeys to be made for office time or meetings, and can facilitate a much more agile workforce. And the simpler it is to use, the more engaged and productive your workforce will be.
Hardware
Legacy systems often required cumbersome servers and hardware, which need regular updating, not to mention on-site servicing. A cloud-based ERP system is hosted remotely so
there is no need for the material- and power- hungry demands of on-site servers. While some cloud ERP systems require specific devices to access it, a true browser- based system can run off any standard smart device, reducing the need for specialist hardware even further. Added to that, a cloud system can be updated and maintained remotely too, meaning fewer trips by service providers to upkeep the system, with the advantage that you always have the most up- to-date version of the software at all times without disruptive, on-site updates.
Facilitate ecommerce Ecommerce is taking more of a hold in merchant business and cloud ERP is what builds the necessary foundations. In order to meet the needs of customer-friendly eCommerce platforms, merchants need to ensure that the day to day operations of the business can flex accordingly, and keep up with the volume of work behind the scenes that eCommerce demands. eCommerce in itself is a driver of sustainability, as it reduces travel and enables merchants to implement efficiencies in supply chain and logistics, among other factors. But in order to deliver it well, the whole business needs to adopt a digital strategy – and your ERP system sits at its heart.
There is an eleventh key driver here which is not on the list as it is a more overarching claim: cloud ERP systems help merchants to trade and operate more efficiently, effectively and profitably, enabling them to stay in business longer, and to grow. Given the challenges of 2020 that is no mean feat in itself, but it is a vital part of sustainability that is often overlooked.
As Lord Deben said at the BMF Annual Conference, sustainability is not just about climate change and environmentalism. It is also about educating your staff to help customers make more sustainable choices, and above all, staying in business. Economies need sustaining too and in the construction industry we have a collective responsibility to source responsibly and educate customers in sustainable practices – so the number one concern is staying in business to do those things.
With an intelligent, cloud-based ERP system to help you operate your business more efficiently and use more data-driven decision- making, waste goes down and profits go up. You stay in business, employ fulfilled and productive workforces, educate customers and have the platform to do more good – a virtuous circle that puts you in the position to expand your influence. And that is a win-win if ever we’ve seen one. BMJ
February 2021
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net
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