Karin Jones , Business Applications Business Group Lead at Microsoft South Africa , speaks to Intelligent SME . tech about how Enterprise Resource Planning ( ERP ) systems can help small businesses with workflow , data and cloud capabilities .

ORGANISATIONS NEED A FLEXIBLE ,

INTEGRATED ,

SCALABLE AND END-TO- END BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

AND ERP SOLUTION .

USINESSES TODAY NEED

Not least of these demands is accounting , business management or Enterprise Resource Planning ( ERP ) systems that struggle to keep up with the pace of change and emerging business requirements .

Many small-to-medium-size businesses , in particular – who act as catalysts of economic growth through job creation and currently make up more than 98 % of organisations employing between 50 % and 60 % of the workforce across all sectors in South Africa – are being forced to rapidly adapt to survive and thrive in the face of the challenges of current economic conditions .

The truth is that these businesses simply cannot afford to have disparate and disconnected legacy systems that don ’ t integrate effectively with one another and which fail to meet their business needs because of silos that act as barriers to decision-making . To keep up with rapidly changing needs and market challenges , these organisations need a flexible , integrated , scalable and end-to-end business management and ERP solution .

Although ERP is often a dirty word for the teams tasked with its implementation because of typically expensive , lengthy and complex deployments , the silver lining is that the new generation of ERP solutions provide the scalability , adaptability and mobility offered by cloud-based solutions .

Why is now the time to invest in the right ERP ?

If your existing on-premises or legacy systems are battling to keep up with the demands of the current climate and hampering your ability to transform , adapt and respond to business and market challenges , then there is no better time to invest in an integrated , cloud-based solution as a driver of business growth and agility .

Some of the key factors business owners and decision-makers should consider around ERPs are :

Streamlining deployments

One of the main reasons that business leaders hesitate to implement new ERP systems is because of a traditionally lengthy , costly and complex deployment process which required specialised skills from partners and vendors before businesses could even start using the solutions . Now , however , there are end-to-end , cloud-based

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