Enterprise resource planning, or ERP, is a critical software for businesses of many stripes, including manufacturers, consumer packaged goods companies, and any organization that relies on their supply chain for success. ERPs are large, complex systems that incorporate many aspects of the company’s business including parts/materials supply, finance, HR, and communication with partners and customers. Historically, many companies have relied on manual processes like inputting spreadsheets into their ERP. This leads to data errors, long clerical work, and costly delays.

For manufacturers, these struggles are extremely real, and can easily lead to late deliveries, production stoppages, and, ultimately, unhappy customers.

If this is you, it’s time to automate your ERP processes. Here’s what you can expect when you do.

Automation Makes PO Processing a Breeze

For supply chain teams, automating their purchase order processes is a key first step toward success. Automation means POs are automatically sent to the right stakeholders for approval, and then automatically forwarded to the vendor once the approval is received. With a manual approach, these first few steps in the process can be time consuming. Most teams use emails and spreadsheets, which means waiting to hear back from multiple parties on each step, then hoping to see each email when they hit the inbox. Correspondence is often delayed or missed entirely, and multiple follow ups are often required.

When companies move away from these long, error-prone workflows and into an automation platform, they eliminate hours of clerical work each day. Their time is no longer spent grinding away at emails or phone calls. A smaller manual workload means they have time to focus on boosting supplier performance and cutting additional costs. All of this is only made possible through ERP automation.

Automation Eliminates Human Error

Manual input and labor is a wide-open door for data errors. ERP automation cuts back on these long, tedious processes and eliminates virtually all data errors. Data is written directly to your ERP from the automation solution. No more invoice mismatches or slow payments to suppliers. PO and receipt data is always up to date.

Make Smarter Decisions With ERP Automation

Buyers are on the front line, and they often need all the support they can get. While buried under the weight of hundreds of emails, their minds can only focus on the hundreds of tactical tasks they must perform every day. Free up those hours through automation and watch as buying teams engage in more strategic work that delivers profitability. When they have immediate access to accurate info, they can make smarter decisions more quickly. They can forecast more accurately, allocate short term resources in smarter ways, and work closely with suppliers to boost performance.

ERP automation is critical to the success of any business who relies on suppliers. Only through automation can buyers, suppliers, and other company stakeholders come together to collaborate on POs and boost profitability.