Is Your AI and Automation Strategy Right for You?
SAP automation, or low-code ERP automation, helps businesses in all industries address a wide range of needs. But for your business to fully benefit from SAP, the solution should be customized and adapted to your specific needs.
As a company grows, the need for an overview increases. To enable strategies and operations that are data-driven, rather than based on hunches, a company should have a shared system for all its data needs. And for operations to run smoothly and efficiently across departments, there has to be a common platform for the whole organization. The SAP solution, or ERP solution, provides this common platform.
The ERP system helps integrate all branches of a business, enabling intelligent and agile operations based on accurate real-time information. But for this to work well, the implementation and system need to be customized to the company's situation. In this article, we'll look at the business benefits of a customized SAP system. But first, let's have a look at what SAP and ERP are.
SAP and ERP Explained
The digital world is littered with abbreviations, and it's easy to feel confused and overwhelmed. So before we move on to examine the benefits of SAP and ERP, we'll define what they stand for.
SAP is short for Systems Applications and Products in Data Processing. It is the name of a specific ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software, as well as the name of the company manufacturing the software.
ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning. It is a type of software that organizations can use to manage all kinds of business activities. These include procurement, accounting, project management, compliance, and supply chain management.
Business Benefits of SAP
ERP systems are typically designed around a clearly defined and shared data structure (schema), which serves as a common database for the entire company. The information used across the business is based on common definitions and thus can serve as a single source of truth. This is something that is often a challenge for organizations trying to streamline and optimize their operations. Having this structure in place will help you maximize your productivity and maximize capacity execution.
With this standard core structure, it becomes possible to connect different parts of the organization and integrate workflows across departments, such as finance, HR, engineering, DevOps, and marketing.
The ERP system, or SAP system, is a means for integrating processes, people, and technology. By doing so, it enables modern and seamless operations. With low-code automation, it makes powerful digital tools accessible to the whole organization. A consistent approach to automation and integrations leads to time, money and effort savings in every growing enterprise.
Often, implementing an ERP system is the first and most crucial step in a large-scale digitization process. As such, it can come across as somewhat intimidating. But the many benefits of an efficient ERP system will quickly outweigh the cost and effort of getting it in place. Below is a list of some of the most prominent benefits businesses tend to experience after implementing SAP automation:
- Enhanced analytics and reporting
- Boosted cash flow
- Optimized inventory management
- Improved business efficiency and cost savings
- Better data management and enhanced data security
- Improved scalability
- Optimized supply chain management
- Reduced time for development and go-to-market
When Is Your Business Ready for SAP?
Several indicators can help you decide if your business has reached the stage where an ERP system would be helpful for you. If you find that your company would benefit from any of the following points, you should probably look into an ERP solution's possibilities.
- A need for a single source of truth for the whole company – to enable tracking, analysis, reporting, and data-driven operations.
- An increasing need to automate time-consuming manual processes in one or many departments.
- Demand for better insights into all parts of the supply chain to increase efficiency and productivity.
- A need for improved data security, whether on premise or in the cloud.
Taking SAP to the Next Level With Customization
To get the most out of your SAP solution, it has to be adapted to your company's specific needs. The best way to do so is by working with a trusted partner guiding you through all the implementation and customization steps.
The first step is looking at your business goals to determine how automation can help you reach them. Doing so will provide you with a northern star to help you guide your decisions and implement your SAP software. Different businesses have very different needs. Yours will depend on the size and digital maturity of your organization and what industry you are in.
By customizing your ERP solution to your organization, you will bring your operations to the next level. Your SAP solution will function as the backbone of core operations at your company. It will enable you to reach your goals possible through data-driven processes.
10 Areas Where SAP Will Skyrocket Your Results
1. Quality Control
An automated solution facilitates site inspections in retail stores and distributed work coordination with mobile paperless forms.
2. Research and Development
With a shared data source, including all parts of the value chain, improving and developing your product become easier and more efficient.
3. Project Management and Product Lifecycle
A shared platform helps reduce informational silos and enables the whole organization to work as one team.
4. Regulatory Compliance and Risk Analysis
With a complete overview, it becomes easier to monitor and safeguard data and to analyze potential risks.
5. Account Management and Customer Support
Integrated and automated workflows enable smooth customer on-boarding and off-boarding, efficient customer support, and safe contract management.
6. Claims Management and Inventory Management
A common platform makes claims management, product returns, refunds, and exchanges more streamlined. It also provides a real-time inventory and stock overview.
7. Marketing and Advertising
Access to real-time data from all parts of the organization empowers the marketing team and enables more efficient campaign management.
8. Finance and Procurement
Automating manual tasks makes the processing of billing and disputes more efficient, freeing up time for strategic and value-adding work.
9. HR and Recruiting
A common platform and low-code automation facilitate recruiting and talent management as well as on-boarding and off-boarding of employees.
10. IT Management
A common system provides the IT department with a tool to gather data, create smart integrations, and track progress.
Conclusion
Growing businesses have everything to gain from automating manual tasks and integrating all parts of the company. By doing so, they will be able to scale in a way that is competitive and efficient. A customized SAP system provides your company with the platform you need to run data-driven operations and optimize all parts of the organization.
Please reach out to discuss how your company could best benefit from SAP and what customizations could help you reach your business goals. At Convedo, we always use your particular needs and goals as the point of departure to make sure you get maximum value from your investment.
