Exactly How ERP Can Improve a Business’s Efficiency in 2025
Data at Your Fingertips: ERP systems make all critical information accessible, empowering employees to make informed decisions swiftly.
Robot Assistant: You can cut down on routine, mundane taskwork, as the system picks it up for you.
Don't Fear the Reaper: ERP systems are essentially built-in compliance partners, helping you keep all law-makers satisfied, without worrying about it.
Make Clearer Decisions: The system organizes your data, so that all you need to do is look at the results and decide what's next.
Here’s a dream: a business where tasks flow seamlessly, data is easily accessible, and decision-making is easy.
Now, this dream can become a reality, thanks to enterprise resource planning systems. Let’s find out how ERP can improve your business’s efficiency.
How ERP Systems Improve Business Performance
Getting your business to function like a well-oiled machine is only possible when every gear and wheel works in perfect harmony. This is where ERP solutions can help. They offer an array of features to make your business more efficient, such as:
1. Centralized Data Repositories
To best illustrate the change you'll see, I'll tell you a story:
Without ERP
Imagine this: you’re a profitable business, selling hot cakes like…. Well, hot cakes. But you need to manually update your inventory management system to account for every sale.
In business, manual tasks like these are a money pit — and no, that isn’t like a ball pit. For example, let’s say you forget to update the system one day.
- Supplies are running low, but the inventory and sales team aren’t aware.
- They keep selling, and accidentally make promises you can’t keep.
- Customers don’t get what they want, leaving you with some very angry hot cake aficionados to deal with.
The main culprit here is human error. It's a common challenge in manual workflows, and leads to financial losses, compliance issues, and dissatisfied customers. Now, let’s look at a world where data entry is automated and accessible.
With ERP
Every sale is updated in your inventory system as it happens, keeping your sales and inventory teams in the loop.
You intentionally selected an ERP system in order to create a centralized data repository. It integrates with other business functions, allowing employees to collaborate and communicate with each other, while eliminating manual data entry and data silos along the way.
ERPs are built to streamline business processes, enhance productivity, and improve efficiency. Moreover, business functions can seamlessly exchange data with each other to align decision-making with strategic business goals.
One of our customers uses their ERP to facilitate the entirety of their order management process, communicating between their sales, finance, and order management teams.
By automating how their ordering information flows to and from their ERP, they saved 900 person-hours a year in order management time alone.
2. Business Task Automation
A Wrike survey found that 69% of employees spend up to 3 hours per week on repetitive tasks like sending update emails, generating reports, and tracking billable hours. The same survey showed that task automation could help employees accomplish 50% more work within the same time frame.
An ERP supports features that can automate these repetitive tasks. It can send out updates, compile reports, and update the time tracker. Instead of wasting time on mundane tasks, employees are free to use their time for more high-value business tasks like direct customer interactions and future planning.
Moreover, with the introduction of GenAI, we’re seeing a shift in the way communications are being generated. More companies will use GenAI to automate narrative reporting, stakeholder communications, and emails.
For example, Oracle’s Fusion Cloud ERP recently introduced GenAI capabilities to auto-generate project plan proposals and summaries within the Project Management module. Instead of churning this data out themselves, humans will review AI-generated reports, leaving them free to focus on high-value tasks.
At the same time, Oracle also introduced GenAI in its Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) system. It created AI-generated narratives to explain trends, numerical forecasts, and outcomes in simpler terms. It provides more context to underlying factors driving predictions.
Best ERP Systems Available
In case you don’t already have an ERP system, consider checking these out:
3. Compliance and Finance Management
Besides efficient processes, proper financial management is arguably the most important part of running a business. But it’s also quite complex. Your financial manager’s responsibilities range from maintaining P&L statements and financial planning to running payroll and paying vendors.
I already talked about what performing these tasks manually can do in the previous section, so I’ll skip talking down on us humans again — Automating these tasks makes it easier to distribute invoices, make payments, generate financial forecasts, and more.
However, financial management poses a unique problem. It's bound by compliance regulations and non–adherence can lead to some heavy penalties depending on the country, especially with the onset of artificial intelligence.
With all the buzz around generative AI, it’s easy to get swept away in the hype. Take a step back and consider the AI that you are already using in ERP… Pay close attention to risk mitigation and governance.
Laws and regulations around AI are still forming; make sure to stay up to date on them and that your employees have a clear understanding of the risks and guidelines, as well.
Luckily, ERPs are built with compliance in mind. The right ERP software factors in local tax and compliance regulations while integrating financial functions like financial reporting, tax management, budgeting, and asset management.
4. Transparency and Real-Time Analysis
After expanding their operations to three locations across the U.S., N&N Moving Supplies — a family-owned business — found it nearly impossible to maintain accurate time records and payroll using its existing systems.
Since moving to the Netsuite ERP system, the organization:
- Saw a significant increase in efficiency, reducing payroll processing time by 84%.
- Increased visibility into labor-cost trends across its three locations.
- Gave managers access to real-time, personalized employee dashboards, offering better visibility into the workforce.
However, real-time access doesn’t necessarily equate to better efficiency — ERPs aren’t magic.
ERP systems are the equivalent of your organization’s central nervous system, picking up signals to tell you what your body needs…
But if you don’t understand what a grumbling stomach means, you won’t know what to do about it.
You need to use your data to gather insights into potential bottlenecks, inefficiencies, etc.
This is where ERP analytics can help. It enhances visibility into business operations, showing you why your business is starving for more efficient processes, and what you need to do to satiate that hunger.
It does this in three steps:
- Prepares data: ERPs ensure that the data is accurate and useful, eliminating anything that isn’t.
- Analyzes data: It uses formulas to identify trends, patterns, and insights in the prepped data.
- Communicates findings: It uses data visualization to share your findings with others in an easy-to-understand manner.
5. Improved Planning and Decision-Making
Business leaders spend so much of their time making difficult decisions that they’re starting to suffer from decision fatigue (if you’ve ever tried deciding where to eat with friends, you’ll know what that is).
When you consider everything ERPs do to improve business efficiency, it’s no surprise that they’re your best bet to fight the fatigue and facilitate better decision-making. ERPs:
- Provide access to real-time data. They consolidate data from all business functions in one location to help business leaders make informed decisions. It also helps nip a problem in the bud by identifying issues before they escalate.
- Enable better business planning. They come with resource planning tools to simplify resource allocation. By identifying underused resources and under-serviced functions, ERPs can ensure resources are redirected to appropriate functions to maintain optimal workflow. This could be assigning employees to labor-intensive tasks, ordering more inventory, etc.
- Enhance forecasting. Using ERP analytics tools, businesses can generate performance reports that offer insights into your business’s health. It can be used to drive profitability, informed decision-making, and supply chain management efficiency.
If you want to see what a successful ERP implementation looks like, just look at Ernst & Young’s (EY) transformation story. Its Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales integration is a great example of what a unified, customer relationship management (CRM) solution can do for a multinational business.
Using the cloud-based ERP solution enhanced EY’s existing system in multiple ways.
- It integrated information from different departments in one location, improving collaboration.
- It provided client-servicing teams, financial forecasters, and business planners access to in-depth insights, enabling faster decision-making.
- It standardized the sales process globally, offering EY client-servicing teams improved pipeline visibility.
Using learnings from Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales, the professional services company was able to provide personalized customer experiences, offer critical business insights, and improve operational agility.
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ERP systems are key to improving your business efficiency. They transform how your business operates by automating tasks, streamlining existing processes, and enhancing data analysis — all while maintaining compliance with local regulations.
But the magic of ERPs doesn't end there. Ready to tap into the benefits of ERPs? Subscribe to our free newsletter for expert advice, guides, and insights from business leaders reshaping businesses using ERP systems.
