5 Essential ERP System Modules for Trading and Distribution Businesses in 2022
No matter the business industries, each of them has had its fair share of challenges due to the pandemic.
Luckily, thanks to the advancement of technology, most businesses are able to adapt quickly through leveraging technologies to keep their businesses afloat.
Realizing the need for businesses to get comfortable with implementing technologies, the Malaysian government has taken the initiative to encourage digitization, digitalization, and digital transformation among Malaysian SMEs through the offering of a Digital Grant.
For a successful digital transformation, businesses will first have to achieve digitization and digitalization.
One of the ways to do that is through the implementation of Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) systems.
Read more on: How to achieve digital transformation through ERP system implementation
Stepping into a new year, businesses should start accepting the fact that incorporating technologies into their daily operations is a must these days.
Before this, we have discussed the 4 essential ERP system modules for manufacturing businesses in 2022.
Knowing that other business industries might also be facing difficulties when deciding on which ERP system modules to implement, so, here are the 5 essential ERP system modules that trading and distribution businesses must absolutely have in the year 2022 to stay competitive!
5 essential ERP system modules that trading and distribution businesses must absolutely have in 2022!
· Sales Module
· Purchasing Module
· Inventory Module
· Invoicing Module
· Accounting Module
Sales Module
One of the ERP system modules that trading and distribution businesses definitely should have is the Sales Module.
With the Sales Module, businesses that are in the trading and distribution industries will be able to trade and sell more efficiently.
This is because salespeople will have better data accessibility which allows them to follow up on leads and close sales more effectively.
Quotations and orders are two big parts of the trading and distribution industry.
Businesses that implement the Sales Module will be able to have better management of orders, as well as the ability to create professional quotations.
In order to track and evaluate business performances for future improvements, accurate and timely reports will be needed.
Businesses can acquire that through the implementation of the Sales Module.
Sales Module’s dashboard can provide trading and distribution businesses an intuitive reporting on all the important information such as salespeople performances, best selling products, top customers, and key performance index, all on a single screen.
Purchasing Module
Trading and distribution businesses will often need to order huge amounts of supplies, with different variants, from numerous suppliers.
Without a compatible management system, the purchasing departments of businesses will have a hard time making sure everything is working seamlessly.
Through the implementation of Purchasing Module, trading and distribution businesses will have all the information about suppliers and products readily accessible to them.
The price lists and Key Performance Index (KPI) of suppliers can all be stored and accessed easily, thus allowing trading and distribution businesses to make better purchasing decisions through better analyzing and comparing supplier choices.
The replenishment tasks of businesses have always been tedious and time-consuming when done manually.
With the Purchasing Module, replenishment and purchasing tasks can be automated according to their own inventory levels.
A Purchasing Module that can be integrated with other modules is very beneficial to trading and distribution businesses.
Accurate inventory forecasting, clear RFQ status monitoring, and effective product handling are some other functions that can help keep trading and distribution businesses stay efficient, productive, and competitive.
Inventory Module
Trading and distribution businesses will have to stock up on huge loads of supplies and products before they are sold or delivered to their customers.
That is why an Inventory Module is absolutely crucial, as it enables trading and distribution businesses to better manage their stocks and inventories.
Inventory Module allows trading and distribution businesses to effectively manage and control their inventory even if they have large amounts of stocks with different variants.
This is made possible with the traceability and visibility that Inventory Module provides. Movements of stocks can be tracked from the purchasing departments to the inventory, then to the sales orders created as well.
Having an Inventory Module, trading and distribution businesses will be able to have accurate forecasting of inventory levels, which allows the Smart Scheduler function of the module to automatically replenish stocks accordingly.
This is important as it prevents trading and distribution businesses from facing understocking and overstocking issues.
Invoicing Module
Trading and distribution businesses often deal with a huge number of sales orders.
When there are large amounts of sales orders, the invoices that businesses will need to create will be plenty too.
That is why trading and distribution businesses will need to have an Invoicing Module. It allows businesses to generate invoices easily whenever sales orders are confirmed.
Both customer and supplier invoices can be well managed too.
Clear invoices overview, automated follow-ups on due payments, batch payments that support multi-currency, and more, are a few other benefits of having an Invoicing Module.
Accounting Module
Accounting plays an important role in any business regardless of its industry.
Accounting is needed as it provides financial information to businesses that could help them better strategize their future business plans and models.
With that being said, it is a necessity for all business industries, including trading and distribution.
Trading and distribution businesses that implement the Accounting Module will have access to clear and accurate financial information such as profit/loss, cash flow, taxes, customer acquisition costs, and so on, thus encouraging strategic planning.
Furthermore, manual tasks such as data entry that are prone to human errors can be reduced or avoided too through Accounting Module’s automation.
ERP system modules can work seamlessly well with each other.
The modular system, allows different modules to be added to or removed from the ERP system according to the current needs.
If you ever feel confused or overwhelmed by the idea of implementing an ERP system for your businesses, feel free to contact our team of ERP system experts for a detailed and professional consultation, just for you!