Core ERP System Capabilities & Optional
A key aspect of an all-in-one Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution is that everything you need to manage an organization is already built-in into the software. However, to gain a competitive edge in the manufacturing industry, you need a bit more than that. You also need an ERP solution to help streamline human resources (HR) processes, improve the quality of your products, and enhance your customer service experience. While a best-in-class solution may offer some of this functionality, we’ve found that all-in-one solutions provide the breadth of technology manufacturing companies need to really grow.
In Part 1 of ‘Why Getting an All-in-One Solution Can Be Great for Your Business’, we went over the main benefits of the Infor CloudSuite Industrial (Infor CSI) solution, including its strong partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS). What we want to cover next are some of our favorite Infor CSI core system capabilities, and how these capabilities impact your manufacturing business.
CloudSuite Industrial Quality
Quality is critical in almost everything, but especially in the manufacturing industry. People put a high price on the quality of products & services and are willing to pay more for it. Infor CSI Quality is a fully integrated robust quality solution that is included in the core software offering. What would be considered an add-on module for most ERP software, especially a best-in-class option, is already part of the core CSI offering and can be tailored specifically to your manufacturing workflows.
It costs 5x as much to attract a new customer, then it is to keep an existing one. When customers want products made to their exact specifications, they expect you to make that happen. Otherwise, you will be costing yourself a lot of money in the long term. To help maintain that high level of quality, Infor CSI Quality places a huge emphasis on a continuous improvement quality lifecycle, ensuring fewer defects and costly errors in the production of your materials.
Not only does the module include supplier management to establish QA inspection processes upon receipt, allowing you to track supplier performance, but on the shop floor, an in-process inspection can be used to identify issues during the manufacturing process. The Quality module also works with the RMA module for returns, directing the return to QC for inspection and disposition. Over time you’ll see an increase in productivity because instead of your staff managing process workarounds or worrying about fixing mistakes, they can focus their attention on improving efficiencies and generating innovative ideas that propel growth.
CloudSuite Industrial Service
Customer service is another highly valued attribute of a business. SuperOffice ran a survey recently of 1,920 business professionals asking to share their #1 priority for the next five years, and the results: customer experience came first (beating out product and pricing).
It’s hard to put a price on customer service because of the intangible benefits it provides through increased loyalty and recouped acquisition costs, but we all know the impact. That’s why it’s another of our favorite Infor CSI core ERP system capabilities –the value it brings to a business. Infor CSI Service effectively manages internal and external assets. You have the flexibility to customize the module, so it fits with the unique services you offer. This is another benefit of an all-in-one solution – there’s no need to spend more money buying additional technology to manage your customer service because everything you need is in one enterprise ecosystem.
From creating service orders to scheduling repairs and maintenance, from managing assets in your facility to products purchased by your customers, Infor CSI Service provides a true solution to the complex world of maintenance, repair, service, and warranty. This module is also supported by a mobile app that is android and iOS compatible to support field work. By leveraging this core module’s functionality, you can indirectly attract more value from the products and services that you offer in your business. Accordingly, profits increase, and naturally, your bottom line will as well. All of this gives you an advantage over other competitors because you’re able to easily provide that priceless customer service everyone values in a business.
CloudSuite Industrial Estimating
From prospect to customer, estimate to order, Infor CSI Estimating core module provides a simple solution to what is normally a complex workflow. Create the prospect with an estimate to forecast costs based on the tasks and resources assigned to the project, win the deal and easily create the customer and convert the estimate to a sales order & live project to get started. This is all part of the core CSI offering that was designed with your manufacturing business in mind, so you don’t need add-ons or other integrations in your tech stack.
Infor CSI Estimating also helps you cut costs, and quite considerably, by making your workflow management easy. There’s less human intervention (which also means fewer pricey errors) when you automate your estimates workflow processes. This core functionality automatically moves your workflows from one step to the next in sequential order, from the beginning down to the last step. Not only does this save substantial costs from staff not needing to monitor and manually walk-through the estimates process, but also increased accuracy and efficiency are gained resulting in potentially higher profits.
CloudSuite Industrial HR
Your staff is your greatest asset, and you must put the right people in the right job to get things done. That’s why Infor has made HR management a core part of its offering. Infor CSI HR provides an easy workflow from applicant all the way to hire. It also gives you data for future recruiting decisions by fully and accurately tracking the resources that are required throughout the hiring process.
With the average cost per hire at $4,425, no business can afford to make poor hiring decisions based on bad data or no data at all. Infor CSI HR lets you learn from the past by driving informed decisions using real-time data insights gathered from previous HR activities. This core module rounds out the CSI offering from operations to materials to the most important asset, people.
Quality, estimating, customer service, and HR management are just a few core ERP system capabilities businesses should think about when looking for an ERP solution. To run a successful manufacturing business, you need to have them all. While best-in-class solutions can often offer comparable functionality, to get the standard features plus the above 4 core ERP system capabilities a company could need 4 additional solutions, leading to more integrations, more time, more maintenance, and more costs. If you don’t want to go down the DIY route, reach out to our Infor experts at BT Partners. Or, if you’re still in the exploration phase, wait for Part 3 of this blog series to come out. There, we’ll be discussing how Infor CSI’s intuitive user interface and enhanced analytics contribute to better team collaboration.
