ERP for SMEs: The Why and Benefits

Introduction

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play a major role in most economies, particularly in developing countries. SMEs account for most businesses worldwide and are important contributors to job creation and global economic development. They represent about 90% of businesses and more than 50% of employment worldwide. Formal SMEs contribute up to 40% of national income (GDP) in emerging economies. These numbers are significantly higher when informal SMEs are included.  According to estimates by the World Bank, 600 million jobs will be needed by 2030 to absorb the growing global workforce, which makes SME development a high priority for many governments around the world.

As the backbone of most developed economies and acting as the major contributors to GDP, “In Nigeria, with a total number of about 17.4 million, SMEs account for about 50% of industrial jobs and nearly 90% of the manufacturing sector, in terms of number of enterprises”– Nigeria SME Survey, PWC

Just like every Business, the key business goals of any SME include improving revenue growth, increasing employee productivity, and acquiring more customers, all of which can be successfully addressed by technology. However, most SMEs do not thrive in the long run due to some major challenges identified below:

Major Challenges Common with SMEs

Business Processes

Most small enterprises are characterized with managing their core business operations manually. From Bookkeeping to Inventory management, Financials, Customer Service and more.

Scalability

Often starting as a small sized business, most enterprises get faced with the challenges of adopting and upgrading current technologies to fit new demands.

Security

Data breach and information loss is common with SMEs due to lack of storage, possible errors from manual data entry and management. These enterprises are also prone to cyber-attacks.

Cost

keeping up with technological advances can be expensive most especially for small businesses, the reality for most small and medium enterprises before deciding whether to upgrade or purchase technology, comes down to financial margins and strength of the business.

Choice

With a wide range of technology solutions and vendors to choose from. SMEs can be challenged with identifying and choosing the right and trusted technology to fit their needs.

Customer Experience

As Market evolves, customers’ needs, and preferences keep changing. Businesses who are unable to digitally manage these needs can be faced with low retention as customers want faster access to information and services.

Why An ERP?

To address the above stated issues and more, a centralized system is needed to automate and manage all business processes end-to-end. This is where ERPs like wBizmanager come in. ERPs store all data inputs into a single database and enables businesses manage their core functions within a centralized and integrated system.

Benefits

With an ERP, businesses can achieve the following benefits and more:

• Beef up security concerns.
• Save IT cost
• Gain Business Agility
• Improve Customer Experience
• Increase Productivity and Collaboration.
• Improve operational Efficiency.
• Meet SLAs.
• Proactively make business decisions

The Wragby wBizmanager

The Wragby Business Manager (wBizManager) Solution is an integrated suite of applications that manages core business processes, such as sales, purchasing, accounting, human resource, customer support, CRM, and inventory.

wBizmanager , was built to enable SMEs digitize existing manual processes and gain remote access to all facets of their business. With a few clicks of the mouse, they can view and manage orders, track inventory, customize requests, create jobs for staff, stay connected to employees, and generate sales and other reports.

Get 1-month free trial of wBizmanager here.

Technology adoption is a must have for businesses to grow profitably, deliver great customer experience, and increase market share. It provides the tools to innovate and focus on higher-value tasks. At Wragby we continue to develop various solutions for small businesses through our digital platform SMEProductivity.