Entrepreneur lists misaligned priorities, redundant steps and limited collaboration as three of the tell-tale signs your company might be working in silos. These internal structures can be debilitating and result in slower production and growth. Impacting businesses both small and large, silos often are associated with negative group dynamics (think: “us vs. them”).

However, silos can also be caused more innocently by poor communication between team members who are hard at work in their own areas. Salesforce reported that 86% of business executives cited “ineffective collaboration and communication as a major cause of failure in business”.  

How ERPs can help

Simply put: ERPs take all your information and centralize it. With MOM, it literally unites all your core business functions from sales to CRM to projects, so everyone is working from the same system and data. It’s essentially a collaborative resource for your team, which keeps everyone on the same page with this shared information. Here are a few of the ways an ERP like MOM achieves this:

• Team members enter all their data into one paperless resource, making it faster and easier for everyone to access this data.
• Data updates in real-time in MOM, so everyone has the most up-to-date information.
• Tasks can be assigned to specific individuals to be actioned, to reduce redundant steps.
• Audit trails allow you to keep track of individuals working with those projects or clients, so you can go right to the source for questions or comments.
• Reporting functionality allows for measured goals to be put in place to align priorities.
• MOM lets you manage multiple-companies in one database, so users can know what’s going on across the business.

It’s true; Mobile Office Manager doesn’t encourage your sales and marketing teams to brainstorm a loyalty campaign, but it does allow them to share project information. MOM doesn’t set your company goals, but it does let you pull all the data straight from one consistent source.

What an ERP does do is make all that business information easily accessible and up-to-date for team members to review. ERPs like MOM are an effective way to share all information, which ultimately results in that much needed level of basic communication that is often missing when companies work in silos. ERPs are the first step towards a more unified business.

How multiple systems keep your business divided

Huffington Post shared that it’s just more logical to “harness data from a single place” than work off multiple ERPs or systems. For example, creating your invoices in one but scheduling field technicians in another just slows you down. Not only are multiple systems a drain, but having a mixture of systems alongside paper and paperless documents can get pretty confusing. Skip the headache by investing in the right ERP. A good ERP will be able to offer your business an efficient process so your team can get all the right information from one spot.

You might be thinking that your current software and process has been working just fine. However, the Huffington Post also notes that your company must “think big now, so you’re prepared” for future growth. After all, you’re working for the long run, not just today. A single ERP that meets all your needs would not only unify your business and team but also ready your company for that upcoming growth.

One of the best ways to discover how ERPs can work for your business is with a free trial. Ask for your free trial of MOM now!