In today’s fast-paced business landscape, organizations constantly search for ways to optimize their operations and gain a competitive advantage. One particular area that often presents challenges is supply chain management. The smooth flow of goods and information from suppliers to customers is critical for the success of any company. This is where the power of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) comes into play. ERP systems provide a comprehensive solution for streamlining supply chain management by integrating various processes and departments into one centralized platform. From procurement and inventory management to production planning and customer relationship management, ERP empowers businesses to make informed decisions, cut costs, and enhance overall efficiency. In this article, we will explore the potential of ERP in revolutionizing supply chain management and how it can help businesses stay ahead in today’s competitive marketplace.

What is ERP?

At its core, ERP is a software system that integrates various processes and departments into one centralized platform. It allows companies to manage and automate a wide range of business activities, including finance, human resources, procurement, inventory management, production planning, and customer relationship management. By providing a holistic view of the organization’s operations, ERP enables businesses to make informed decisions, reduce costs, and improve overall efficiency.

Benefits of Using ERP in Supply Chain Management

Implementing an ERP system for supply chain management offers numerous benefits. First, it enables real-time visibility into the entire supply chain. With a single source of truth, businesses can track inventory levels, monitor production processes, and identify potential bottlenecks or delays. This visibility allows for better planning and forecasting, ensuring the right products are available at the right time.

Secondly, ERP systems facilitate better collaboration and communication between different departments and stakeholders involved in the supply chain. By breaking down silos and enabling seamless information sharing, teams can work together more efficiently, resulting in faster decision-making and improved customer service.

Additionally, ERP streamlines critical supply chain processes such as procurement and inventory management. With automated workflows and integrated tools, businesses can optimize their purchasing activities, reduce lead times, and minimize stockouts or excess inventory. This not only saves costs but also improves overall supply chain performance.

Streamlining the Supply Chain with ERP

ERP systems play a vital role in streamlining the supply chain. One way they achieve this is through demand planning and forecasting. By analyzing historical data and market trends, ERP software can accurately predict demand and help businesses align their production and inventory levels accordingly. This proactive approach ensures that products are available when customers need them, reducing lead times and enhancing customer satisfaction.

Another key aspect of supply chain management that ERP addresses is order fulfillment. With integrated order management functionality, businesses can automate and streamline the order-to-cash process. ERP systems ensure smooth and efficient order fulfillment, from capturing customer orders to managing shipping and invoicing, reducing errors and delays.

Furthermore, ERP allows for effective inventory management. By providing real-time visibility into inventory levels, ERP systems help businesses optimize their stock levels, minimize carrying costs, and prevent stockouts or overstocking. This level of control ensures that the right products are available at the right time, reducing lead times and improving customer satisfaction.

Key Features of ERP for Supply Chain Management

To effectively streamline supply chain management, ERP systems offer a range of key features. These include:

Demand Planning and Forecasting

ERP software leverages historical data and market insights to accurately predict demand, enabling businesses to optimize their production and inventory levels.

Order Management

Integrated order management functionality allows businesses to automate and streamline the entire order-to-cash process, reducing errors and delays.

Inventory Management

Real-time visibility into inventory levels helps businesses optimize stock levels, minimize carrying costs, and prevent stockouts or overstocking.

Supplier Management

ERP systems enable businesses to effectively manage their supplier relationships, ensuring timely deliveries and maintaining high product quality.

Warehouse Management

ERP systems improve efficiency, reduce errors, and optimize storage and picking processes by automating warehouse operations.

Transportation Management

Integrated transportation management functionality allows businesses to optimize shipping routes, reduce costs, and improve delivery times.

Implementing ERP for Supply Chain Management

Implementing an ERP system for supply chain management is a complex undertaking that requires careful planning and execution. It involves several steps, including:

  1. Needs Assessment: Identify the specific requirements and goals of the organization to determine the right ERP solution.
  2. Vendor Selection: Research and evaluate different ERP vendors based on factors such as functionality, scalability, ease of use, and customer support.
  3. System Customization: Customize the ERP system to align with the organization’s unique supply chain processes and requirements.
  4. Data Migration: Transfer existing data from legacy systems to the new ERP system, ensuring data integrity and accuracy.
  5. User Training: Provide comprehensive training to employees to ensure they can effectively use and maximize the benefits of the ERP system.
  6. Testing and Deployment: Thoroughly test the ERP system before deploying it across the organization, ensuring a smooth transition and minimal disruption to operations.

Challenges and Considerations When Implementing ERP

While implementing an ERP system can bring significant benefits, it also comes with its fair share of challenges. Some common challenges and considerations include:

  • Cost: ERP implementation can be expensive, including upfront costs for software licenses, hardware infrastructure, customization, and ongoing maintenance and support.
  • Change Management: Introducing a new system can disrupt existing workflows and require employees to adapt to new processes. Effective change management strategies are essential to ensure a smooth transition.
  • Data Integrity: Migrating data from legacy systems to the new ERP system requires careful planning to ensure data integrity and accuracy.
  • Scalability: As businesses grow and evolve, the ERP system needs to be scalable to accommodate increased data volumes, users, and functionality.
  • User Adoption: Ensuring user buy-in and providing comprehensive training is crucial for successful implementation.

Best Practices for Optimizing Supply Chain Management with ERP

To maximize the benefits of ERP in supply chain management, businesses should follow these best practices:

  1. Define clear goals and objectives: Clearly define the desired outcomes and objectives of implementing an ERP system for supply chain management.
  2. Involve key stakeholders: Involve key stakeholders from different departments and levels of the organization to ensure their needs and requirements are considered throughout the implementation process.
  3. Ensure data accuracy and integrity: Invest time and resources in data cleansing and migration to ensure accurate and reliable data in the ERP system.
  4. Provide comprehensive training: Train employees on how to effectively use the ERP system and its specific features for supply chain management.
  5. Continuously monitor and improve: Regularly monitor key performance indicators and metrics to identify areas for improvement and optimize supply chain processes.

Conclusion

In today’s competitive marketplace, streamlining supply chain management is essential for businesses to stay ahead. ERP systems offer a comprehensive solution for integrating and optimizing supply chain processes, enabling real-time visibility, better collaboration, and improved efficiency. By leveraging key features such as demand planning, order management, and inventory management, businesses can unlock the full power of ERP in revolutionizing their supply chain. However, implementing ERP for supply chain management comes with challenges and considerations that need to be carefully addressed. By following best practices and learning from successful case studies, businesses can successfully harness the power of ERP to streamline their supply chain and gain a competitive edge in the market.

ERP streamlines supply chain management by integrating processes and departments, automating activities, and providing real-time visibility. It optimizes procurement, inventory, and order fulfillment, reducing lead times and ensuring product availability. However, implementing ERP has challenges like cost, change management, and data integrity. Best practices and involving key stakeholders help businesses harness ERP’s power to stay competitive.

If you’re ready to unlock the true potential of ERP in revolutionizing your supply chain management, contact us today for a consultation and take the first step towards operational excellence. You can learn more about Encompass Solutions by visiting our website or contacting us as sales@encompass-inc.com.


Adopting ERP Solutions

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs), also often referred to as small and midsize businesses (SMBs), have a tremendous advantage over larger enterprises and many don’t even know it. Because of SMEs’ energy and agility, they are more able to adapt to changes in the marketplace, implementing and adopting ERP solutions and emerging technologies to give them an operational advantage over larger enterprises.

SMEs are not subject to the same bureaucratic processes that corporations and other large enterprises have adopted over the years. Winning customers over with a more modern sensibility and customer-centric approach, SMEs can perform when they need to and turn on a dime when the market demands it. With larger enterprises, the adage of a big ship taking longer to steer fits appropriately alongside industry examples. Their size makes them far more able to weather storms, but less capable of maneuvering. Therefore, SMEs should be adopting ERP solutions and modern automation tools to make their jobs easier now, before their current systems are outgrown at a time when operations can’t afford to be put on hold for implementation.

an image of disorganized wooden drawers.

The Transition To Effective ERP Solutions Only Gets More Complicated And Costly As Your Enterprise Grows.

Implementing these time and resource-saving tools enables SMEs to compete at an accelerated rate. Critical as they may be, the computer systems and software needed to run a successful enterprise of any size are often overlooked components. Amalgamated systems, pieced together from a large swath of vendors, may work for a business at one time and place, but eventually, a unified system is necessary to ensure productivity and survivability as an enterprise grows in tandem with its customer base. Employing these solutions will reduce wasted labor and streamline efforts, allowing departments to work together with the same data, rather than against each other in siloed systems.

Defining Processes With ERP Systems

There will come a time when the c-suite or upper-level management will identify the need to implement an ERP system. Initially serving enterprises as a financial visibility tool, ERP systems have grown to encompass so much more. Now businesses can implement systems that grow alongside their business with modular capabilities that allow them to implement beyond the core system functionalities. A good ERP system will provide data storage and visibility, manufacturing execution, supply chain management, human capital management, and a quote-to-cash process that takes minutes compared to the antiquated manual approach of the sales cycle. These are just a few of the core competencies of a modern ERP, add to that mobile capability and cloud agility and workforces can utilize these powerful systems remotely or on-site from the shop floor to the boardroom to ensure their operations are running as smoothly as they can.

Cleaning Up The Clutter

SMEs are known for being a medley of paper systems and software applications that allow them to operate with a separate solution for each need. As different departments operate within their systems, they are missing out on the benefits of sharing data with other components of the business operations. Synchronized communication and data visibility cut down on operational lag that results from data being strewn about. Your company’s IT department probably knows the scope of servers, databases, and operating system hindrances as a result. By implementing an effective ERP solution, your business can more appropriately connect its people, processes, and systems to ensure vital data is stowed, prepared, and available in real time.

an image of a cleaning crew sweeping into a dust pan.

Get Rid Of The Clutter. The New Broom Of ERP Sweeps Clean.

Managing Human Processes Using Automation and ERP

Like most SMEs, the workforce is always pushed to perform on a lean pool of resources. It’s not inherently a bad way of operating, but when vital people fall ill, take their vacation time, or up and leave at a crucial time, likely, their work can’t be taken up quickly by someone else because of poorly organized systems that make their core processes and the associated data systems available. When these processes are confined to spreadsheets, the task of making sense of it all when critical personnel is absent becomes an even larger hurdle. Getting rid of the manual calculations associated with data input and output through the business’ many systems. ERP addresses this by taking over the mundane and repetitive calculations required, effectively ending the need for relying on less robust solutions, like Excel.

Man stacking a tower of wood blocks with human silhouettes, human resources and management concept.

Human Capital Management Is Much Easier With The Tools Provided By ERP Solutions.

The Data You Need, Now

With size comes a divide in how the way upper management interacts with the workforce. As the distance between management and day-to-day operations increases, ERP bridges the gap with increased visibility. Reposting becomes the window through which management sees the company’s performance. ERP systems are especially suited to deliver quality reporting for accurate performance data today and accurate forecasting tomorrow and beyond. Beyond boilerplate standards, adopting ERP solutions can deliver custom reports based on the data points managers want to see in any given instance. Consultants and developers can assist in further enhancing customizations within ERP systems.

a photo of charts and graphs on a tablet with printed data sheets on a table.

Get The Data You Need To Refine Processes And Increase Production In Real-Time With ERP.

Outpace The Race

With the time invested in reporting brought down significantly through effective ERP solutions, the error-prone and time-consuming task of data entry and location becomes a less obtrusive task. Businesses can more easily scale at pace with the industry as a result. The dependable routine that effective ERP solutions provide offers financial reporting and processes that companies can rely on as they grow. dependable systems and accurate automation through ERP systems enable expansion and additional staff to be brought on and up to speed, faster.

About Encompass Solutions

Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm specializing in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.


When the goal is to be agile both on the shop floor and in the marketplace, manufacturers need tools that allow them significant maneuverability. ERP systems have traditionally been the biggest component of operational adaptability when circumstances change behind the scenes. Cloud ERP is one recent example of innovation in Industry 4.0 that has reinvigorated the manufacturing space for enterprises of every size. A survey by Technology Evaluation Centers revealed Epicor ERP ranked as the top solution for growing small and medium businesses.

Cost Saving Software

Today, small and medium businesses (SMB) can achieve world-class efficiency at a fraction of the cost when compared to the past 10 or even five years. What was once accepted as a software solution available only to large enterprises, ERP allows small and medium businesses to access data like never before. Without the high-cost of on-premises solutions, cloud ERP solutions provide significantly improved levels of insight into operations by omitting the costly expenses of hardware, maintenance, and security. Small and medium businesses are finding it easier to make their mark in the marketplace with the extra capital provided by these all-in-one solutions, in many cases built specifically for their industry.

Information Sharing

By more effectively sharing relevant information between departments, small and medium business operations can avoid bottlenecks caused by low inventory or sub-contracting tasks. Access to as much or as little data as is necessary provides every member of the workforce with the insight they need to ensure the supply chain is never interrupted.

ERP Frees Resources

Cloud-based ERP systems bring down operational costs at the point of implementation, that much is true. However, more impressive still is the ability for small and medium businesses to take advantage of the reduction of labor costs associated with ERP solutions. By eliminating the human component of repetitive tasks, labor is freed to be focused elsewhere in the supply chain. Additional benefits of the automation components of ERP solutions include fewer instances of erroneous data and more accurate forecasting.

The Take Away For Small And Medium Businesses

Beyond the cost benefits implementing an ERP system puts SMBs in the right mindset for growth with a commitment to the long-term. Positioning your business for success starts with the right attitude, after that the right tools pave the way for your progression. Cloud ERP brings several benefits that SMBs can see the results of immediately.

The first immediate benefit is uniformity and transparency within a single information system. Without the need to chase down data or keep departments working within siloed systems, everyone can work on the same page towards the same goal. With multiple data entries and exports no longer in the picture, errors are mitigated, productivity increased, and associated expenses no longer affect your bottom line.

an image of a coffee ERP coffee and several components of a business drawn on paper.

ERP Systems Are Accessible And Highly Beneficial To Small And Medium Businesses.

Informed decision making emerges with effective ERP solutions in place. Everyone from marketing to management to accounting benefits from the ability to make more effective decisions affecting operations now and ahead. When the overall strategy becomes clearer, agility comes naturally and your business can adapt more easily to obstacles before they become issues.

Streamlined processes make way for increased productivity with ERP. The systems you have put in place today will enable a smoother transition through growth as you enjoy the success resulting from your hard work. The alternative may end up costing you much more than the price tag of an ERP system.

About Encompass Solutions

Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of Industry.


How Bezlio Adds Predictive Analytics And Machine Learning To ERP

I’ve always been passionate about bringing new technology to companies to help them be more competitive. An exciting emerging technology that’s got the IT/IS crowd buzzing right now is using machine learning to allow for smarter data analyzation. Companies spend a significant amount of money generating data compared to analyzing it. With the technology Bezlio is built on, we allow companies to take emerging technologies, like predictive analytics and machine learning, as they become available and leverage it regardless of the back-end system.

machine learning and predictive analytics with bezlio and epicor erp

In a recent technology article, Forbes tells us that Machine Learning is the ability for computer programs to analyze big data, extract information automatically, and learn from it. 

We are able to run Epicor ERP along with Bezlio to utilize machine learning and predictive analytics. Bezlio’s plugin architecture means that the source data can be from anything, along with a plugin available in Bezlio that utilizes the Accord.NET Framework, a very popular machine learning library.

To get to the golden Promised Land of machine learning, however, we must first walk the dark path of statistics. Seriously though: Most of the machine learning concepts were derived from past statistical analytic techniques. Even applying some simple statistics can be used with ERP data to gain better insights. I have always liked statistics because it takes the gut out of gut decisions based on incomplete data.

To learn more about Bezlio please visit the website.

To read the original blog entry including multimedia and technical details, please click here.

During the 2017 Bezlio Mainspring Developer Conference, Brian Ellis spoke about the subject of predictive analytics and machine learning as it relates to using it with Bezlio and any ERP or CRM.

About Encompass Solutions

Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of Industry.


ERP has been around for almost as long as the internet, pagers and bag phones helping businesses standardize processes, increase efficiency and sales through access to data. Epicor ERP has been able to keep pace with the changing needs of businesses (that bag phone was a little clunky) and has incorporated social business functionality reflecting the way employees are incorporating technology into their personal lives. According to Nick Castellina of Aberdeen Group “organizations that have implemented this approach to ERP saw over twice the improvement in profit margins over the past two years of organizations that have not implemented social ERP.”

The key benefit of Social ERP is collaboration. This goes for organizations that are housed in one building or across the globe. As we all know, Al Gore single-handedly invented the internet but in most cases, collaboration is extremely beneficial to a business. Allowing employees access to data with the necessary tools and infrastructure is the first step to this collaboration. Once employees have the data the next step is to analyze the data (independently and collaboratively) and create a pathway to turn this robust information into a plan that can benefit your business.

Social ERP in Epicor can take many forms including the ability to tag conversations, products, projects, customers, equipment, etc. This collaboration creates a central location where all stakeholders can easily access current information and over time you create a database allowing you to avoid previous mistakes and learn and continuously improve with more efficient processes, higher quality products, and services, better profit margins.

Get-Collaborative-Image

The Benefits Of Social ERP

Here are a few stats compiled by Aberdeen Group regarding businesses that have incorporated Social ERP:

  • A decrease in decision-making time of 28% versus 21% for those without social ERP.
  • A decreasein business processes time of 11% versus 9% for those without social ERP.
  • Met internal schedules 95% of the time versus 90% for those without social ERP.
  • Had employees that exceeded performance metrics 58% versus only 36% for those without social ERP.
  • Over the 2 years these statistics have been gathered, Businesses improved profit margins 19% versus 9% for those without social ERP.

The stats are clear (bag phones were good but smartphones are better). Social ERP increases collaboration, efficiency, and profits. Contact us today about implementing a social ERP solution for your business.

About Encompass Solutions

Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of Industry.