How ERP improves a company's business performance

ERP automates the repetitive tasks involved in performing a business process-such as order fulfillment, which involves taking an order from a customer, shipping it and billing for it. With ERP, when a customer service representative takes an order from a customer, he or she has all the information necessary to complete the order (the customer's credit rating and order history, the company's inventory levels and the shipping dock's trucking schedule). Everyone else in the company sees the same computer screen and has access to the single database that holds the customer's new order. When one department finishes with the order it is automatically routed via the ERP system to the next department. To find out where the order is at any point, one need only log into the ERP system and track it down. With luck, the order process moves much more quickly through the organization, and customers get their orders sooner and with fewer errors than before. ERP can apply that same magic to the other major business processes, such as employee benefits or financial reporting.