Video: Expanding the Value of Your ERP System

For distributors, one of the largest capital investments they will make is in an ERP system. It handles their accounting processes where they do everything from print and send invoices to managing customer purchase orders. It handles their inventory management process. An ERP system is really how they manage their organization from an operational standpoint.

For distributors, an ERP system represents a huge capital investment, and also an investment in their staff. There are a lot of training hours spent making sure that they use their ERP system as efficiently as possible. Out of those training hours a culture shift occurs as well. Distributors became focused on operational efficiency because of these tools and the new rules that everyone needed follow. They found efficiencies through ERP.

Unfortunately, when growing your organization, you can only get so far with operational efficiency. Once you have reduced the costs of your operation — such as maximizing inventory turns and streamlining costs — it’s time to further leverage the information inside your ERP system. Your employees are asking, “how do we take that valuable information and extend it to our sales and marketing teams so they can leverage the information and grow our revenues?” Ultimately, that is where growth must come from, growing revenue so that you can build on an already operationally solid organization.

One of the nice things about SMP is that we’ve always had a tight integration with distribution ERP systems. This allows us to bring in key information that your team needs to make the right decisions. One of the most common statements we hear from our customers and our prospects is that they want an expert. SMP has the longevity and the client base that to offer that expertise.

Please watch SMP President Joe Raventos discuss how to expand the value of your ERP system.