When your supply chain extends globally, you gain access to a larger audience, better suppliers, and valuable untapped markets. ERP software is changing the rules however, it comes with significant risks. According to the International Risk Management Institute, half of enterprises experience more than one supply chain disruption per year, and nearly 55 percent of outages cost more than $25 million. One in five spent more than $500 million on remediation.
Can your company take a $500 million loss and recover immediately? If your answer is "no," you're in the same boat as 99.9% of the world's companies.
Every insurance company knows that the best way to manage potential losses is to prepare for them before they happen. Advanced ERP software helps distributors and manufacturers predict outages before they occur by using powerful analytics. The ERP system also provides data-driven insight into how to accurately avoid failures. If an outage occurs, distributors can gather the intelligence they need to act decisively and mitigate the (potentially dire) financial impact.
Visibility for everyone, everywhere, across all channels
ERP software is changing the rules. As businesses break down silos and unify their workforces, they will need the same data management system. However, when it comes to distribution, businesses are not only breaking down barriers between sectors but also potentially connecting different business partners, countries, cultures, and currencies. As a result, distributors must integrate with software that can facilitate the financial and operational impact of cross-border commerce, such as dashboards that report key metrics for various exchange rates.
In addition, transparency is also good for customers - ERP solutions can help companies pass information to customers through fulfillment notices before and after delivery. This real-time communication keeps customers both up-to-date and happy. Even if a distribution company is relatively close in scope, the company still needs mobile technology to enable employees to communicate and collaborate anywhere. Whether you're driving 1,000 miles for a new customer or 1,000 feet to check inventory, mobile access to master data storage is critical for today's distributors. Not every employee wants to be fixed to their desk and desktop computer. Almost no one likes being "stuck" in front of a computer when we have awesome computers in our pockets wherever we go. We all have places to go, especially for successful distributors, customers, and prospects.