Enterprise solutions for smaller businesses

A mobile enterprise application might sound like something reserved for the companies with a billion dollar yearly revenue or more. But in reality, most businesses however small or large stand to benefit from optimizing their processes and workflows with an enterprise app. And while enterprise apps excel at keeping track of hundreds or thousands of employees, it can work just as fine for a small startup team of a handful of a people for an example.

At its core a good enterprise resource planning (ERP) system will not just help with employees, but also work to leverage the very best of each asset the company has available. From proper accounting routines that are automated as much as possible, to specialized and custom workflow optimization that is tailored to the specific day to day operations of the small business or startup.

Another term for ERP systems are so-called IFS applications. Whereas an ERP system is generally more complex and covers more subjects, an IFS app aims to handle 4 critical points that are virtually existing in all businesses over the world, namely:

1. Project Management

2. Service & Asset Management

3. Manufacturing and Inventory Management

4. Supply Chain Management

These full-suite solutions are designed to not just combine features from these 4 areas, but to make them work in harmony with each other, often automating certain parts of the otherwise tedious process involved in tracking time, documenting progress and counting stock.

And for especially small businesses, this is where savings can be made. For a single entrepreneur or a startup of just a handful of people, eliminating efforts spent on mindless but time-consuming tasks can not only save money, but help make even more money in the longer run. This means that mobile app development can be a cost efficient venture, and even pay for itself in terms of savings and improved workflows. And for the single business owner, it can even mean the difference between growing tired of the business, and thriving.

However, while we’ve come a long way with these full-suite applications, especially for the mobile devices, the costs are still fairly large if the apps require just the least bit of customization. So a single ecommerce store will not necessarily have to shell out a huge investment to get an all-in-one solution for their basic operations if they’re using off the shelf solutions.

So you don’t need to be the CIO of a multi-million dollar company to reap the benefits of an enterprise application, but there does need to be a financial gain to be had by doing so, since the investment into adopting a new ERP is not irrelevant.

Another awesome feature of a single combined enterprise application is that tracking actions, visitors and conversion across the board becomes easy. Since everything happens on the same engine, it’s possible to set up Analytics to work in full harmony with both customers and employees, complete with outbound link tracking, conversion rates and custom goals for a truly all-in-one package.

Mark has written numerous articles on a variety of topics ranging from high level technology issues, to marketing and startup tips.