Shortlist ERP Software That Meets Your Accounting, CRM, Planning, Operations, Integration, Automation & Reporting Needs

What Is ERP Software?

ERP Software is a single platform that unifies, centralises, and stores core business process data through integrated applications and modules. By collecting financial and operational data, an ERP acts as the decision-making nervous system of an organisation.

Enterprise resource planning provides business value in three key areas:

1. Productivity through automation.
2. Collaboration through integration and the flow of data.
3. Efficiency through total visibility of business processes and functions.

An ERP Software suite comprises various out-of-the-box and configurable modules and sub-modules. Each module is responsible for a specific business process, including:

• Finance and Accounting
• Material Management
• Supply Chain Management
• Human Resources Management
• Inventory Management
• Warehouse Management
• Order Management & Fulfilment
• Manufacturing & Distribution

These modules capture specific operational data and provide end-to-end business process workflows through integration with other modules (inventory management modules need data to flow back and forth between supply chain and accounting modules, and so on).

95% of businesses that adopt ERP Software – when migrating data from legacy ERP systems, mainframes, MS Office, and spreadsheets – see an immediate operational improvement:

• Manufacturers reduce operational costs by 22%
• Construction firms reduce total project spend by 10% and increase on-time completion rate by 20%
• Wholesalers and distributors lower inventory costs by 10% and increase service levels by 65%
• Food and beverage firms reduce finished goods inventory by 25% and increase delivery times by 14%
• Accounting teams reduce payroll processing times by 80%
• E-commerce brands maintain a customer retention level of 70%

How Does an ERP System Work?

ERP systems work by capturing real-time datasets from business processes and displaying them in a unified form, like dashboards and workflows. Data includes accounting, financials, sales, logistics, HR/HCM, supply chain, CRM, and manufacturing.

An ERP combines predictive analysis and reporting to recommend automation procedures and improve the efficiency of business processes. Core capabilities of a modern cloud-based ERP include:

• Automation: An ERP is empowered to make and recommend operational decisions with minimal human input using machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), and IoT (Internet of Things).
• AI: AI integration enhances the ability to provide real-time decision-making through data analysis and generative recommendations. 65% of CIOs have already implemented AI in their enterprise resource planning functions.
• Data Analytics: This is the foundation of an ERP. It replaces manual analysis and automates the processing of datasets from all business functions through integrations and modules.
• Reporting: Reporting strategies are generated for all stakeholders (from operational employees to senior executives) to report on KPIs, system performance, people, compliance, risk management, and more.
• Integration: A key part of building a successful ERP suite is the ease of integration with specialised applications, APIs, and systems such as CRM, Human resources, e-commerce, and business intelligence.

UK’s Best ERP Software Systems

Core ERP Software Features and Modules

Planning Engine

• Financial planning
• Materials and Labour planning
• Supply chain planning
• Workforce planning
• Warehouse planning
• Logistics planning

Accounting, Budgeting, and Finance Modules

• CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) budgeting
• OPEX (Operational Expenditure) budgeting
• Buffer budgeting for unknowns in a fiscal year
• International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation (IFRS)
• Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)
• Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States (GAAP)
• HGB in Germany and PCG in France
• US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
• European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)

Workforce Management ERP Software Features

• Hiring
• Human resource management
• Employee well-being monitoring
• Human resource upskilling
• Managing internal and external workforces on site, plant, or other locations
• Assigning workforces to a project
• Time and labour management
• Define permit-to-work conditions
• Monitor health and safety conditions in the workplace

Project Management ERP Software Modules

• Internal project management
• Acquisition projects
• Departmental projects
• Strategic projects
• Change management
• Short-term projects

Risk Management

• Document risks
• Grade risks
• Project Risks
• Navigate risks with risk mitigation actions
• Correlate risk dependencies
• Fully understand the detailed impact if the risk events happen

Compliance Management

• Define internal and external compliance factors
• Understand planned vs actual compliance
• Understand non-compliant areas
• Procedure to adopt if compliance is not met

Supply Chain Management

• Map the process from the production of goods to the delivery of goods
• Adjust for just-in-time (JIT) availability of raw materials
• Interlink between supply chain production processes
• Define parameters of goods/raw material acceptance

6 Benefits of Implementing ERP Software For Businesses

1. Build and Access One Source of Truth

The top reason for implementing ERP Software is to build one data pipeline between the most important (or chosen) business processes. Often, ERP is implemented to connect Sales, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Warehousing, HR, Financials, Delivery of Goods, Logistics, Returns and Service Management. This allows businesses to reduce the need for multiple and individual software applications.

2. Improve Capacity and Utilisation of People, Assets, and Processes

Co-relational data and analytics is a very powerful deliverable of an ERP system. It enables enterprises to co-relate data and information across all business functions. There are amplifying capacity and utilisation benefits in knowing answers to questions like what was promised by the sales team, what is available to deliver, what can be manufactured, and when the goods will be delivered in one system.

3. Transition Enterprise Communication From Seeking Information to Driving Progress

Often, communication with siloed software is around seeking information. Simple questions like what is the order value, material location, instructions to deliver, arrival of a bill of material etc. consume an exceptional amount of time for an Enterprise.

By implementing a single source of data and truth, ERP users can find information within the ERP Software meaning information-seeking communication time is significantly reduced. This gives space for improved communication quality to drive the enterprise forward.

4. Use Co-relational Analytics to Make Data-Driven Decisions

Co-relational analytics and data between different teams open several opportunities to deliver growth, improve utilisation, and optimise costs. Volume leverage, timing leverage, managing peaks and low periods of business, hiring decisions, training, and upskilling decisions can be taken with utmost confidence by unpacking data from your ERP Software.

5. Correlate Different Parts of the Business

An ERP communicates several parts of a business by building a common data pipeline from business functions. The overall understanding of your enterprise goes up for every ERP user. The intangible benefit of deploying an ERP system depends on the quality of hires, training, and overall communication in the business. If done correctly, this results in amplified speed and efficiency of your enterprise.

6. Build a Growth-oriented Culture

ERP Software can set targets for functions such as Sales, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Warehousing, HR, Financials, Delivery of Goods, Logistics, Returns and Service Management. This enables enterprises to set, monitor, and drive growth.

The Three Categories of ERP Software Products

1. Niche ERP Software Products

Niche ERP Software products come with planning and execution engines for specific industries and applications. Some examples include:

• Manufacturing ERP
• Ecommerce ERP
• Warehouse ERP
• Food & Beverages ERP

Niche ERP products offer very deep and broad capabilities, often requiring light configuration. These products optimise ERP processes and deliver incredible productivity uplift.

2. Small and Medium Business ERP

Often, SMB ERP products are aimed at companies with 250 employees.

ERP Software for small and medium businesses are non-modular. I.e, they have all the features in the core product. ‘All-in-One’ is typically the core preposition.

3. Enterprise ERP Software

Enterprise ERP systems tend to be modular and have industry and application experts for pre-sales and implementation.

Deepest configuration and customisation possibilities often mean Enterprise ERP products require phased implementation.

Types of ERP Deployment Models & What Are the Differences?

From project drivers to budget allocation, ERP implementation is complex. It involves picking the right methodology approach; waterfall or agile? As well as knowing what strategy best matches your requirements; big bang, phased, parallel, or hybrid?

The answer to these implementation-driven questions depends on the type of deployment.

Cloud ERP/SaaS (Public or Private)

Cloud ERP systems are by far the most popular ERP deployment type, with 86% of digital finance leaders claiming a cloud-first mindset. Cloud ERP is a software package that resides on a server and is accessed via the internet and by paying a subscription service model to the provider (also known as software-as-a-service). There are two types of ERP Cloud Software models:

• Public: All infrastructure is owned and operated by a third-party vendor operating a multi-tenant subscription model.
• Private: A cloud model owned by just one company, as opposed to multiple, with the infrastructure either on-site within a company’s firewall or off-site in a company-owned data centre.

On-premise

A company operates and maintains its own software and hardware infrastructure on-site. ERP Software is installed on in-house servers and all infrastructure assets – including licenses – are exclusively owned by the company.

Hybrid Cloud ERP

A combination of public and private cloud models offers a mixture of advantages. Private cloud provides ownership and security, while public cloud models offer ease of implementation and scalability, particularly with data storage and computing requirements.

Specialised ERP (Industry)

Specialised ERP systems are customised to provide features and capabilities targeted at specific niche operations and industries. For example, while a Distribution ERP system will have generalised features for finance and HR, it will provide more specialist features for distribution activities like order fulfilment, warehouse management, and demand forecasting.

Two-Tier ERP Deployment

A two-tier ERP approach is deployed when a core ERP system (Tier 1) is either overly complex or doesn’t provide the specialised requirements of business subsidiaries. Therefore, instead of all regions and subsidiaries using one core system, organisations will deploy another ERP Software (Tier 2).

How ERP Software Impacts Different Industries

Businesses implementing ERP Software have multiple operations, each with a specialised area of focus that requires complex planning and reporting. With this in mind, ERP Software is best utilised in industries such as:

• Manufacturing: Manufacturing ERP systems help manufacturers plan and schedule production, improve product quality, leverage product lifecycle management, optimise supply chain planning, and gain accurate inventory control.
• Retail/E-Commerce & Distribution: Retailers utilise e-commerce integrations and ERP modules such as order management, warehouse management, customer tracking, and supply chain management to improve control of sales and the customer experience.
• Healthcare: Hospitals, care homes, blood banks, and more, use ERP business systems to manage medical inventories and supplies, digitalise patient records to build centralised patient portals, and create accurate financial forecasts.
• Construction and Engineering: Construction and engineering operations use integrated ERP applications to track and assign sub-contractors, control the inventory of building materials, plan for resource allocation, and improve project management on a large scale.
• Banking and Financial Services: ERP systems are used by financial services to control risk management, plan for “what-if” scenarios, secure data management, and track custom relationships.
• Education: Institutes, schools, and colleges use ERP Software to make sharable information available to parents, students, staff, and teachers, as well as help to build digital student records and improve the availability of educational equipment through resource planning and asset management modules.
• Food & Beverage: Tailored food and beverage ERP tools use information to analyse and improve food waste management, recipe management, ingredient tracking, and allergen and dietary safety compliance. As well as using warehouse and inventory management modules for storing products with temperature, weight, and date requirements.

ERP Software Knowledge Guides

Enterprise Resource Planning Software FAQs

How Much Does an ERP System Cost?

• £2,000 to £15,000 for small business ERP Software.
• £15,000 to £50,000 for medium businesses with simple requirements, light customisation and straightforward integration requirements.
• £50,000 to £150,000 for medium businesses with customisation and integration requirements.
• £150,000 to £1,000,000 for medium businesses with complex requirements, bespoke development, customisation and two-way (bespoke) integration.
• £1,000,000 to £10,000,000 for enterprise businesses that have simpler processes.
• £10,000,000+ for enterprise holding companies with multiple businesses/subsidiaries and complex processes.

The price range is broad because ERP costs depend on two key factors:

1. ERP Requirements

Cost implication factors are:

• Costs are lower for simple requirements and highest for ERP requirements that require customisation, integration and bespoke development.
• Niche ERP products built for specific industries often have higher software cost but lower implementation and total usage costs.

2. ERP Data Management and Data Size

Cost implication factors are:

• ERP process clarity. Simpler processes often relate to lower costs.
• Data cleansing. During ERP implementation, Data cleansing often adds time and cost components.
• Data Audit. A hidden gem or blindspot. Companies that audit their data consistently tend to lower their hosting costs and keep the ERP Software clean. Total ERP adoption costs are often the lowest for ERP systems with the cleanest data.
• Data hosting and storage. Public (shared) clouds are often most effective, whereas Private clouds have the highest cost. Load balancing, Server Architecture, Instance deployments, and Security requirements contribute to cost-effectiveness.
• Data Access. Users, User training, Support structure and how the system is used influence overall ERP adoption costs.

To identify ERP costs for your business, use this ERP Search Assistant.

How Long Should It Take to Implement ERP Software?

The duration of ERP Software implementation hinges on several factors, but on average can take anywhere between 3 months to 3 years. This timescale largely depends on the size of a company:

• 3–6 months: Small businesses who opt for an out-of-the-box cloud ERP solution
• 6–9 months: Medium businesses that require a slightly more customised system
• 9–18 months: Large organisations with over 1000 users and requiring multiple module integrations
• 18–36 months: Multinational enterprises that have multiple subsidiaries and therefore may require a two or three-tier ERP deployment

As well as considering the time of an ERP deployment’s lifecycle (planning, design, transition, testing, and post-analysis), other factors play a role in how long implementation can take, including:

• Required customisations
• Complexity of a system
• Migration of existing data from legacy systems
• Required user training
• Deployment type (cloud, on-premise, or hybrid)

Will an ERP System Integrate With External Applications and Existing Software (Like CRM, E-Commerce, Payroll, etc.)?

Yes, modern ERP systems are designed to integrate easily with commonly used business tools. These include CRM, HRM, inventory and WMS, e-commerce platforms, and payroll.

There are three main methods of ERP integration: native/pre-built, iPaaS/middleware, and point-to-point/custom APIs and SDKs.

Although seamless ERP integration is common, it also depends on the configuration of external applications and a vendor’s capabilities. If integration is a key factor in your ERP software decision-making, be sure to consider:

• What connectors or pre-built integrations are provided
• Whether the system supports custom-built application integrations
• Will you will receive real-time data synchronisation across all applications connected to your ERP
• Whether integrations incur extra costs
• How long it will take to connect existing applications with the ERP system
• Who manages the integration process

What Are the Perceived Risks of Implementing ERP Software and How Best to Manage Them?

1. High Implementation Failure Rate

Most ERP adopters are apprehensive about successful ERP Implementation. Whilst there is data suggesting over 55% ERP Implementations fail, the data is outdated. Most of it is related to on-Premise software deployment.

Most modern cloud ERP systems have reliable data import routines, experienced implementation teams, and industry experts. Meaning the majority of ERP Implementations are well managed.

2. Difficult to Implement

ERP is a complex product because it becomes your data and decision-making nervous system of a business. By default, you are looking to change the data fabric of your business by implementing an ERP system. So it is not an easy project.

Speaking with businesses who have implemented ERP systems is one of the best ways to exponentially improve your implementation success rate. Most ERP Software buyers don’t do deep reference checks and implementation checks on their chosen products. We highly recommend to speak with existing customers of your selected ERP product(s) before you sign on the dotted line.

Often, by speaking with the existing customers you will be able to validate the speed of implementation.

3. ERP Software Is Features Heavy

Niche ERP and Medium business-focussed ERP products often offer deep features (with less breadth). Enterprise ERP products need to be feature rich because of the variety of users, use cases, and applications they have to cater too.

Phased implementation and collectively agreeing (with key users of your ERP software) on the must-have features often ensures swift adoption of the chosen ERP system.

What Are the Different ERP Tiers to Consider?

There are three ERP tiers: Tier 1 ERP, Tier 2 ERP, and Tier 3 ERP. Although not standardised, ERP Software can be based on a hierarchy that accounts for the size, complexity, and budget of a business.

Tier 1 ERP Systems

• Business Size: Large global enterprises with over £500 million in revenue
• TCO: Most expensive, typically over £1,000,00
• Operations: Global
• Requirements: Customised modules and integrations to match complex workflows

Tier 2 ERP Systems

• Business Size: Mid-market businesses with high growth potential
• TCO: Moderately expensive, ranging from £150,000 to £1,000,000
• Operations: Country-wide with some international
• Requirements: Industry-focused modules with basic customisation

Tier 3 ERP Systems

• Business Size: Small to medium-sized businesses
• TCO: Least expensive, ranging from £10,000 to £150,000
• Operations: Almost entirely local
• Requirements: Basic modules for accounting, HR, and payroll business processes

What Are the Emerging Future Trends for Enterprise Resource Planning?

AI-Infused ERP

AI functionality is a service being offered more regularly with ERP systems. It is used to automate routine processes and adapt and learn to offer an efficient user experience.

The use of AI and Machine Learning (ML) capabilities in ERP Software will largely affect data handling and process automation to improve and speed up overall decision-making.

Common usage of AI in ERP includes:

• Predictive inventory management through analysing purchasing trends
• Automated data retrieval and visualisation
• Dynamic virtual assistants and chatbots that learn with customer relationship management
• Predictive data analysis

Blockchain for Enhanced Data Security

Blockchain types are built on ledgers to ensure data security and accuracy. As ERP systems are built on and are reliant on core business data, integrating blockchain technology to secure records such as transitions and customer information seems only natural.

Benefits of blockchain and ERP integration include:

• Greater traceability and transparency of lifecycle data
• Advanced data encryption for increased security
• The ability to instantly detect discrepancies or rouge edits to data

ERP vendors such as Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP Cloud are leading the way in developing blockchain platforms for ERP Software and blockchain as a service (BaaS).

Existing trends include enhanced data visualisation, cloud ERP deployment, mobile ERP, utilising Industry 4.0, and embracing IoT.