The last couple of years has seen several small and big companies boldly advancing into the digital era, using IT as a key driver to enable digital transformation. Continued efforts towards digital transformation initiatives are expected to cause IT spending to cross $5 trillion in 2021, helping businesses revolutionize how their daily operations perform: right from unifying data and discovering insights to empowering employees and boosting customer experiences. Although most of these investments are centered around modernization of existing IT landscape, a big chunk is also contributed by ERP implementation.

The Right Approach to Digital Transformation Can Lead to Multiple Benefits

Despite the relentless effort organizations are putting towards digital transformation initiatives, 70% of large-scale digital transformation programs fail to meet targets, resulting in massive financial losses. Steering transformation projects in the right direction can lead to a number of business benefits, including:

• Improved growth, expanded profits, and increased revenue
• Better customer, market, and shareholder expectations to stay ahead of competition
• Enhanced innovation by leveraging existing and upcoming market opportunities
• Continuous delivery of services to customers without issues or interruptions
• Enhanced availability, security, and scalability of enterprise systems and resources
• Better insights into business processes and improved decision-making
• Real-time view of customers and their needs and better personalization of products and campaigns 

The Role of ERP in Digital Transformation

Most businesses that embrace digital transformation do so as a result of outgrowing existing siloed IT systems that restrict them from driving continued value. As more and more businesses continue to operate from disparate locations, using disconnected systems and devices, an ERP solution can help consolidate the business while providing end-to-end visibility into operations. Implementing an ERP solution can accelerate the digital transformation journey in more ways than one:

• Better Collaboration: In contrast to compelling users to use multiple siloed systems to connect with peers and carry out daily operations, an ERP system paves the way for improved collaboration. By integrating several different applications and processes into one centralized system, it empowers geographically dispersed users to manage all their business operations in a single location while viewing the entire business through a single pane of glass.
• Improved Security: Modern ERP solutions are built with the highest security standards, helping organizations meet existing and upcoming security requirements with ease. Right from physical and operational security to role-based security capabilities – most ERP platforms today offer multiple levels and layers of security that help keep data safe and protected.
• Enhanced Automation: ERP platforms also deliver enhanced automation capabilities that enable users to minimize or even eliminate human efforts. By integrating processes and breaking traditional silos within an organization, ERP systems allow for quicker and more efficient completion of tasks.
• Streamlined Workflows: Another major way in which ERP systems support digital transformation initiatives is via streamlined workflows. Modern solutions provide real-time visibility into operations, offering business leaders a quick view of their global supply chain. Such insights allow them to better identify challenges and opportunities while enabling them to make faster and better decisions.
• Better Data Integration and Analysis: Today’s ERP systems also help bring data from across the organization to a centralized location, making data readily accessible to all those who need it. Modern analytics and machine learning capabilities further improve business decision-making, enabling key users to make better product, process, and customer decisions.

If you’re looking to digitize your business, implementing an ERP system can well be your path to innovation and true digital transformation. A modern ERP solution can not only ease day-to-day operations management, it can also enable high scalability and flexibility, integration with modern technologies and enterprise systems, and completely change the way you operate. It can help in creating a competitive advantage by building new business models, enabling new offerings, and forging new relationships.

If you are looking to implement an ERP solution and speed up your digital transformation efforts, make sure to engage with a qualified partner who can assist you taking the right steps and achieving the right results. A partner can help in ensuring you get maximum results from your implementation efforts while empowering your users to better manage daily operations, engage with customers in new ways, and develop new revenue streams.