1. Save on costs

This is the main benefit of implementing ERP systems. They enable you to reduce indirect and administrative cost for tasks such as processing customer invoices, matching vendor invoices, making payments on a day-to-day basis as well as reconciliation, reporting and compliance. Remember that there is a cost associated with each of these manual tasks and by automating these functions, then such costs are eliminated

2. Control & Efficiency

ERP systems for small business provide you with a measure of efficiency and control over your business. In the absence of ERP, businesses are often managed using spreadsheets, manual processes and paper. ERP therefore helps automate processes and eliminates the number of times that pieces of paper pass from one desk to another

3. improved visibility

ERP systems allow people involved in a given business to operate from a single source of data that is available in real-time thus reducing the risk of errors and omissions

4. Improve Collaboration

ERP systems for small business enable employees to work together by sharing information. This helps improve teamwork and increases the efficiency of your business processes

5. Provide improved functionality

ERP systems come with more features and functions. They provide you with industry specific functionality. When looking for an ERP system for your business, you should therefore find out how it meets your specific needs and whether this introduces an added level of complexity to the solution

6. easy to use

ERP systems are easy to use especially those that are designed with the small company in mind. This is because they have more intuitive interfaces. As a result, less training is required in terms of use and navigation. However, training may still be required for purposes of process standardisation and improvement.

SAP Business ByDesign is a good example of ERP systems for small business because it:

• Provides your business with unbeatable value by supporting your entire business one step at a time and at an affordable price
• Accelerates time to value with rapid deployment as well as business processes that are flexible
• Provides you with great flexibility in that it is easy to adapt this solution as your needs keep changing and with minimum disruption to your business
• Offers superior customer experience in that you can configure the solution to suit your needs
• Provides you with great transparency and control as you are able to centralise business data across all departments and business processes. This enable you to proactively identify and act on market trends as well as opportunities
• Ensures simple and rapid configuration and adaptation – with SAP Business ByDesign, you can quickly adapt and extend business processes across your entire ecosystem

To help you better understand the question “what are ERP systems,” it is worth mentioning that these systems are implemented to help enhance operational efficiencies, manage and streamline the financial activities of a company, as well as achieve financial goals. It also helps to improve information management through decreased duplication of data, better data accessibility as well as optimal forecasting features.
ERP software comes in many forms such as distribution, manufacturing, supply chain management, warehouse management, retail management as well as point-of-sale software.

Here we look at the main components of ERP systems.

1. ERP financials

These help to streamline and automate your financial operations in addition to:

• Enhancing your core financial capabilities and generating accurate reports in real-time
• Reducing the cost of goods sold and maximising profitability
• Analysing customer behaviour as well as sales to enable you take advantage of new opportunities.

2. ERP human capital management

This enables you to better manage your people as well as:

• Improve workforce efficiency, productivity as well as satisfaction
• Deliver the best HR processes and at the lowest possible cost
• Predict and plan for the future needs and demands of your workforce
• Align corporate strategies with both individual and team goals.

3. ERP sales and service

This supports various customer focused processes by:

• Simplifying and accelerating the entire order-to-cash cycle
• Delivering orders on time and thus improving customer satisfaction
• Streamlining processes and thus reducing operational costs
• Boosting productivity and increasing sales and profit margins

4. ERP procurement and logistics execution

This component supports end-to-end procurement and logistics processes and maximises cost savings.

5. ERP product development and manufacturing

It accelerates your entire manufacturing process while at the same time improving efficiency across your value chain.

6. ERP corporate services

It helps you to streamline and gain greater control of your corporate services.

7. Mobility ERP

This component of ERP systems provides your employees with secure mobile access to the information and processes that they require in handling critical tasks.

8. Rapid deployment for ERP

This helps bring speed and predictability to your ERP implementation

9. Integrated business management on demand

This component helps you to run all your business management processes on a cloud-based suite that is affordable.

1. They should help to increase your productivity, save time or money in addition to helping make your staff or processes more efficient.
2. Decide whether to go for desktop or web-based applications – remember that desktop software tends to offer functionality that is richer than that of web-based tools because it can more easily draw on the operating system and storage. However, small business solutions that are browser-based often carry a lower cost; can be used for free in some cases in addition to staff being able to access them wherever there is an internet connection.
3. Look at what accounting software has got to offer – most businesses cannot do without finance and accounting software which automates activities like invoices, billing and payroll. Accounting software helps provide your business with a way of recording and measuring sales, costs as well as profits. This small business software can also be used to automatically generate invoices as well as formal business correspondence. Indeed, some accounting software even allows you to carry out analysis on your figures so that you can see trends and patterns in the performance of your business. Also, small business solutions should meet the relevant legal requirements if you plan to use your accounting package for purposes of submitting statutory accounts.
4. Look out for the sort of office software that is available – most businesses use Microsoft office applications for their office productivity and are therefore familiar with tools like Excel, Word and PowerPoint. It will therefore help to look out for suites that are compatible with Microsoft’s applications.
5. Look at how well small business software can be used for communication and collaboration. Groupware and collaboration helps employees to work together by sharing information. This facilitates teamwork and increases the efficiency of business processes.
6. Look at the sort of things the collaboration tools offer – remember that collaborative management tools can help your business to manage group activities. Groupware and collaboration software can also offer project management systems, shared electronic calendars, knowledge management, workflow systems, extranet systems, social networking software as well as online spreadsheets.

SAP Business ByDesign is a good example of small business solutions that you can invest in. It is great for your business because it is a fully integrated business solution. It has you covered on all types of software as it integrates all your key business functions including HR, CRM, finance, supply chain and procurement. This small business software also enables you to share information throughout your enterprise. With SAP Business ByDesign, you are able to use the complete CRM capabilities to achieve seamless business process flow easily, quickly and at a lower cost.

Here are some features you should look for in accounting software:

• It should give you easy access to information that will tell you how your business is performing. A good accounting software should also allow you to generate reports easily
• It should provide you with information that is accurate and up-to-date as this is the only way that you will be able to make informed decisions
• It should be fast enough in processing transactions and in generating reports
• SAP accounting software should allow you to gain insight into your business as this will enable you see at a glance the health of your finances as well as quickly identify trends and opportunities that your business can take advantage of
• It should be secure – your small business accounting software should enable you to minimise risks and thus not have to worry about fraud

SAP Business ByDesign is a good example of accounting software. It enables you to get a real-time view of your financial condition in addition to streamlining your core accounting processes and managing cash and liquidity. This SAP accounting software has 2 main components – financial and management accounting and cash flow management.

1. Financial and management accounting

This feature allows you to manage accounts for multiple operating units, currencies as well as reporting standards. This small business accounting software simplifies fixed-asset and inventory accounting with accurate evaluations. It also enables you to:

• Create financial reports across multiple business dimensions thus allowing you to drill down to details
• Make use of integrated ledgers to streamline your financial and management accounting processes
• Use intuitive dashboards and flexible reporting to get real-time insights into financial performance
• Expedite period-end closings as well as provide stakeholders with reports on a timely basis

2. Cash flow management

SAP accounting software enables you to get real-time visibility into your cash position. This small business accounting software uses customer and supplier transaction data for an accurate forecast. It also allows you to;

• Optimise cash management by simplifying your payables and receivables process
• Automate approvals and to have a full view of accounting trails for the entire order-to-cash process
• Make use of electronic interfaces to gain real-time insights into bank balances
• Set employee policies, monitor purchases as well as manage vendor payments and reimbursements

This is possible because it is continuously updated with changes to local regulations thus making it a lot easier for you to comply with the required regulations. It also supports international compliance. Here we give you some tips on what to look for in a good compliance management system.

1. Capable content

The technical content of the solution that you choose should be complete and accurate in addressing the relevant quality and compliance requirements. It should also do so in a manner that is logical and consistent with accepted industry ‘good quality’ practices. This ensures that the solution providers understand and react to future changes in compliance standards in a timely and reasonable manner.

2. Collaborative real-time data

The solution that you choose should provide data that is as current as possible. It should provide e-mail-based messaging that provides users with appropriate, specific and relevant information. The messaging system should work with cell phones, pagers and PDAs given the fast-paced mobile world. In addition, data access and entry capabilities should be expected from any location in the world. Also, all time-sensitive activities like corrective action requests, pending document approvals as well as customer complaints should have configurable alerts, alarms and also escalation that works within the messaging system of your company.

3. Ease of use and deployment

The compliance management system that you choose should be easy to install, configure and deploy.

4. Environmental administration

Your solution providers should provide you with adequate information on whether you will be required to manage the system on your company or whether this will be done by the provider. Remember that if you have to manage the system in your company’s information technology environment, then you need to consider network topology, messaging, security, data storage, bandwidth backup and disaster recovery. You may also incur hidden costs like new or additional servers as well as upgrading client machines.

5. Application administration

This involves planning the user community as well as incorporating the functionality of the compliance management system into your workflow and quality processes. Security access, time scales, roles and responsibilities should be established and maintained without the need for any special programming or computer skills.

6. Scalability

This involves global, multisite organizations being able to leverage resources as well as production capacity by working collaboratively on documents, customer information, shared-supplier data, design engineering and also quality planning data.

7. Integration and compatibility

The compliance management system that you choose should work seamlessly with other applications like Microsoft Office Suite, common enterprise resource planning programs and relational systems as well as various graphics and flowcharting tools.

8. Executive summaries and reporting

The solution that you choose should facilitate extracting and managing data including charts and drill-down reporting as well as graphs.

1. SAP WorkDeck

This SAP mobile app was first developed for Windows 8. It is a new persona-centric application that offers contextual integration of various sources of information as well as processes into a role-based view. It enables employees to initiate new requests in addition to overseeing upcoming events and monitoring the progress. It also allows managers to react and process workflows such as leave, travel and purchasing requests on-the-go.

2. SAP Manager Insight

This SAP mobile app is an employee profile application that gives managers access to key indicators like diversity, headcount, employee talent by location and employee profile, thus leading to collaborative and informed human resources decision making.

3. SAP Learning Assistant

This training app of SAP mobile is one that gives on-the-go workers tag-along teachers. It makes online training available on-demand at anytime and anywhere so that workers are able to access the classes that they require to enable them address compliance and job requirements.

4. SAP Interview Assistant

This SAP mobile app is a recruiting application and thus helps to ease the cumbersome task of having to arrange for interviews. It also helps managers in reviewing candidate information, preparing notes, recording results and providing immediate feedback to HR.

5. SAP Customer Financial Fact Sheet

This is a customer profile SAP mobile application that enables accounts to access invoices, financial data as well as critical sales orders in real time.

6. SAP GRC Policy Survey

This is a policy app that enables employees to review and acknowledge any relevant policy changes as well as fill in surveys to ensure that they understand the policies.

SAP mobile is a great way for you to stay ahead of your competition as it enables you to provide your employees with the tools that they require to be able to handle critical tasks and to make informed decisions in real time irrespective of their location. Some of the main benefits of SAP mobile apps include:

• Increased win rates as mobile access provides you with real-time customer data
• Higher workforce productivity
• Faster and more informed decisions at the point of action
• Accelerated sales cycles
• Better and more responsive customer service
• Forecasting that is more flexible, agile and accurate.

With SAP mobile, you can take your business to the next level as SAP mobile apps are designed to address your unique industry challenges and opportunities.

Ideas in the SAP program that show initial promise move on to iterative testing and the most promising ones are eventually turned into products. Remember that to be able to build a product with a company like SAP that has a global presence; you have to meet all the required regulatory requirements across the world. Although this is a lengthy process, once you go through it, then the product that you come up with is sellable globally. The other advantage of this program is in financial stability in addition to being able to leverage the relationship that SAP has with customers.

Apart from SAP HANA in-memory database, LMV is now SAP’s fastest growing product although its total sales are much smaller. Other products that are as a result of SAP’s entrepreneurial efforts include Precision Retailing which is a mobile application that gives consumers personalised offers in real-time as well as Smart Meter Analytics that uses HANA to crunch big amounts of smart meter data for business insights.

Other SAP programs that are in the pipeline include a project code-named BINGO, a suite of SaaS applications that provide analytics as well as other capabilities for gambling and mobile game companies and also SAP for utilities EV Readiness package that will help power companies to get a hand on electronic vehicle infrastructure.

The main challenge faced by SAP programs is basically how to discover ideas and nurture them until they are grown and then scale them. It is hoped that the SAP program will find a way of protecting good ideas and bringing them forward.

SAP cloud computing has a lot more in store as it continues to innovate across its cloud strategy portfolio, in addition to applying user and mobile-first design principles so as to meet the business needs of its customers, and above all, to delight the end users of its customers.

SAP Business One OnDemand and SAP Business ByDesign are empowering users through a consumer-grade user experience, purposeful collaboration as well as insightful analytics for managers across different areas of the business. Examples of the significant sales and development across the entire suite of SAP cloud computing solutions include:

• Employee central – SuccessFactors has made it easy to do business globally as it can be used across 10 countries and there are plans to expand this to more than 50 countries. With this cloud strategy, customers are able to access and manage one global system of record that is fine tuned to meet local needs and to better accelerate global business results.
• SAP Financials OnDemand Solutions – this is a real-time financial management solution that is insight-driven and designed for the cloud. It has an intuitive, easy-to-use interface as well as personalised information with features that are embedded, and dynamic analytics that make it possible for companies to achieve superior financial insight across their business. This SAP cloud computing solution enables customers to drive streamlined, end-to-end financial processes that are compliant, in addition to real-time financial performance information for all the people involved in a business.
• SAP Customer OnDemand – this solution is more powerful with SAP Jam. It is a people-centred, cloud computing solution for sales, service and marketing organisations. It enables sales teams as well as internal experts to socially connect and communicate with customers in the context of each opportunity. With this cloud strategy, customers are also able to easily provide feedback in addition to sharing what is important to them as a way of strengthening their relationship.
• SAP Jam and SAP Social OnDemand – SAP Jam Is a SAP cloud computing solution that makes collaboration easier. It embeds CRM, human capital management, finance as well as other applications within an organisation, thus integrating the social way that people work and increasing the rate of adoption.
• SAP Business ByDesign – this solution is part of the SAP cloud strategy and has seen significant market growth over the last 6 months. It has introduced over 800 new capabilities in the integrated business management solution that is designed for midsized companies
• Open integration strategy – SAP cloud computing is solving the traditional challenge of integration by providing a seamless approach to the integration of cloud solutions which ultimately increases speed, lowers cost and enhances simplicity for customers.

It is a critical component of the internal control process of any business and is a pre-requisite for assessing compliance with corporate performance standards hence the need for compliance management software.

Effective internal auditing is generally the cornerstone of compliance management as well as continuous improvement. It will help to protect and enhance your reputation as well as your brand by ensuring that you avoid the adverse effects of non-compliance like fines, litigation, bad PR, prosecution, costs, liability, damage to the reputation of your brand and many other risks that are associated with non-compliance.

Compliance management software can help to ensure that you comply with external and internal standards, legislations, procedures as well as codes of conduct while at the same time providing you with real and instant visibility of the compliance profile of your entire organisation. It also enables users to identify legal and other requirements and thus improves compliance across your organisation.

Compliance management also helps you to schedule, plan and conduct audit assessments, identify non-conformance in addition to helping you make recommendations on what improvements can be undertaken. It therefore enables you to take up corrective and preventative measures. Through compliance management, you are able to identify the applicable requirements, assess the state of compliance as well as the risks and potential costs of non-compliance against the projected expenses that will be incurred for your business to achieve compliance. This helps you to prioritise, fund and also initiate any corrective actions that you may consider necessary.

SAP Business ByDesign is a good example of compliance management software that your organisation can use. It is updated continuously with changes to local regulations thus making it a lot easier for you to ensure compliance. With this software, you can rely on access controls as well as transparent audit trails that record detailed changes to your transactional and master data.

The key features of SAP Business ByDesign HR software cover HR management and employee self-service.

1. Human Resources

This component simplifies new employee on-boarding as well as other key processes. It ensures that HR data is available to all managers and employees if and when they need it. This empowers people and increases productivity. It also leverages built-in workflows and self-services for managers and employees thus reducing the workload of HR staff. This feature of SAP HR also allows you to;

•  Take advantage of workforce administration in addition to mastering data management capabilities
• More effectively manage time, labour and compensation
• Facilitate payroll processing inclusive of interfaces with third party payroll providers.

2. Employee Self-Service

This component of this HR software provides employees with self-service tools that make it possible for them to handle routine tasks like recording time, submitting purchase requests and managing their personal information more effectively. SAP HR is also helpful in:

• Creating purchase requests that comply with the policies of your company in addition to enabling you monitor their progress
• Submitting and managing requests for IT support and other issues that are work related
• Making it possible for managers to create and approve requests for self-service in addition to enabling them make data changes on behalf of their employees.

Remember that a good human resource team makes it possible for your staff members to maximise their potential. With SAP Business ByDesign HR software, your HR team is able to achieve this and to operate in line with the specific needs of your company.