ERP uptake is growing. According to Reuters, at a compound annual growth rate of 9%.

This means that many businesses are transitioning from a series of bespoke applications for running their operations (Such as spreadsheets and/or fit for purpose applications for specific business operations) to a unified and integrated platform.

There are many reasons for doing this. Bringing these bespoke systems in to a single application can provide many benefits such as;

– Improved point in time Business Insight
– Eliminating data duplication
– Enhanced collaboration across business units
– Improved efficiency through common user experience
– Complete process visibility of the transaction life-cycle

But while these benefits can provide great value to a business, they aren’t without their challenges in obtaining them.

One of the identified challenges of ERP, is that ERP systems require large amounts of data and information to successfully deliver the aforementioned benefits. There are many ways of creating this data, whether by entering the information in to the system manually via data entry, allowing the system to import information, or configuring the system to create data on its own (Think recurring transactions for example).

A great way to relieve this overhead and provide greater efficiency around the ERP, is to introduce technology solutions to automate the data capture and posting to the ERP. There are many ways of doing this, including technologies like OCR, Electronic Forms, EDI, integrated POS, and eCommerce integration. The data captured from these systems can post directly to the ERP creating transactions and entries such as;

– Sales orders and invoices
– Stock and inventory updates
– Bulk pricing changes
– Customer information
– Payroll information including time-sheets and pay items
– Purchase and vendor bills
– Expenses
– Invoice payments

By automatically posting and creating these transactions in the ERP, businesses can avoid the data entry and transaction creation overhead on their personnel, streamlining processing and providing a wealth of business efficiency.

Understanding this challenge, DataDevice has created the Digital Automation Suite, solely designed to automate the processes of data collection and posting to ERP and Business Applications.

With existing integrations to SAP, Oracle NetSuite, Attache, Microsoft Dynamics, Sage, Infor, MYOB, Xero and many more, it may just be the solution you require to deliver the broader efficiencies you seek from your ERP.

More on the Digital Automation Suite here: http://datadevice.com.au/solutions.html