Ready-to-use off-the-shelf ERP packages making life easy

Technology is reshaping the retail landscape, and the consumers are rightly becoming more and more demanding, says Sudhir Singh, Group Managing Director, Marg ERP Limited.

What is the case for ERP adoption on a large scale?

Businesses all over the world are moving to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions to automate their processes in order to ensure long-time survival. The case for ERP adoption becomes even stronger for startups, entrepreneurs and growing businesses with benefits including reduced costs, scalability, and improved levels of security. We enable cyber security measures which are centralized and flexible. It also offers security for remote access of data, systems that prevent the download of sensitive data, and on-site archival of sensitive information.

What are the latest trends in ERP retail, distribution and manufacturing, when it comes to the India market?
Our software has helped numerous businesses across multiple industries in the country to integrate their day-to-day operations and streamline business management processes. We are constantly working to create less complex, more powerful and more affordable ERP solutions for the retail industry since it is one of the largest users of ERP software.

While most retailers over the years been comfortable with on premise software deployments, the recent growth in the adoption of ERP solutions across almost every business sector today, has resulted in increased adoption across the thriving retail industry. Technology is reshaping the retail landscape, and the consumers are rightly becoming more and more demanding in an era where they can easily have anything, anytime and anywhere. This makes it imperatives for the retailers to adopt transformative innovation in order to stay relevant. The smartest of the lot know what the combination of right tools and right technology can do for them

What was the technological upgrade like when India handled GST and have most enterprises fully adapted to it now in 2019?

We believe that our biggest milestones were at the time of VAT (Value Added Tax 2005) and GST (Goods and Services Tax 2017). When these reforms came into existence, we ensured smooth transition of our customers into GST and VAT. We provided seamless conversions and believed that somehow we played our role for the national cause.

Being spread in more than 700+ districts across the country with 10K plus field force provides scale to the organisations; these strengths enable ease and effectiveness while getting any solution to the market. We have managed to build a powerful communication and updating system, in one hour we can float a new solution and update the market across the country. Technology has given us the leverage that we can make a huge task, such as this one, possible in a short span of time. The challenge has not been to be able to deliver the solution for the market, but to create a shift in mindset of businesses towards investment into technology solutions as part of their growth strategies.

What about government resource planning? Do the central and state governments in India adopt ERP?

The ERP implementation by state and central government comes on the back of two major reforms– designing a leaner action-oriented work manual and restructuring the organisational structure. Benefits of ERP will be manifold. It facilitates tracking of the projects from anywhere at all times and will give real time information about the machine and manpower requirements, issues at the project site, progress, weather, and terrain. The decision-making has become significantly fast. Getting information on a lot of small works going on at distant and difficult terrains is difficult, even now. ERP helps with timely interventions.

What are the dos and don’ts for Indian SMEs in terms of adopting ERP?

Today, there are a wide variety of automation tools and techniques designed and devised to help SMEs and their employees produce their products better and more efficiently. ERP is the answer, which is a direct outgrowth and extension of manufacturing resource planning.

But over the last decade, with technology becoming simpler and easily available, with the coming up of ready-to-use off-the-shelf ERP packages, like Marg ERP software, with shortened implementation phase, emergence of cloud computing, requiring minimum in-house skill set, the possibility to become leaner and efficient organization, now looks close to reality for SMEs.

SMEs have a common perception that ERP is best suited for large scale industries due to high cost of ownership, complexity of implementation and subsequent maintenance cost (commonly known as Big White Elephant). Though over the last decade with technology becoming simpler and easily available, with the coming up of ready-to-use off-the-shelf ERP packages. It has become easier for SMEs in terms of adopting ERP.

How can new and upcoming technologies help the ERP ecosystem?

ERP has shifted towards technological advancements that greatly will increase accessibility, allowing users to share and transfer data internally and externally in real time, making them more cost effective, faster and more easily scalable, while the web dimension means integration and data accuracy are also improved. Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are transforming business practices as a whole, and ERP is no exception.

We have strived to create more powerful, less complicated and more affordable options for the users. With new features, concepts, functionality, technology, and new ERP trends emerging on to the scene, such futuristic ERP systems will continue to make diverse businesses, including pharma, manufacturing and retail, simpler in the future as well.