Bespoke ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)

What is a bespoke ERP (enterprise resource planning) system?

A bespoke ERP system is a software system designed and developed to meet the operational requirements of your organisation only, incorporating your specific workflows and processes to reflect your day to day reality. Depending on your specific business, an ERP can be made up of a number of different components that allow your employees to work from one integrated system rather than multiple different platforms. This is in contrast to off-the-shelf ERP systems which have a standard set of modules that are meant to be used for a set of limited, pre defined tasks. Not much use if you don't operate on standard principles!

What can a bespoke ERP system do?

In short, anything you need it to, in the way you need it to. That's the beauty of bespoke! However, there are some common components that can be found in bespoke ERP systems, let's take a look at some examples:

• Finance & Accounting - You'd be hard pushed to find a business that didn't have a need for some sort of finance function. Bespoke ERP systems will typically include modules for invoicing, payment processing, budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting and cash flow management
• Procurement & Purchasing - Procurement components help you manage the purchasing of goods and services from your suppliers. They might include supplier management, purchase order creation, approval workflows, contract management and goods tracking.
• Inventory & Warehouse Management - Chaotic places at the best of times, ERP systems can be used to manage your warehouses and the stock within them. They can track stock levels in real time, monitor stock movements, manage warehouse locations and automate the replenishment process. 
• Production - A given for manufacturing and engineering organisations, production schedules must be closely managed for maximum efficiency. ERP systems can help organise resources, materials and QC processes, giving users full visibility of the end to end process from raw materials to the finished product.
• Sales & Order Management - Including a sales module would allow you to manage quotations, pricing, orders, contracts and even customer accounts. This is particularly useful if you also have finance, inventory and production modules because information can be collected at the initial sales stage and then flow through the subsequent modules without the need for any additional input.
• Reporting - Another absolute necessity in most businesses, ERP systems have the ability to consolidate information from across all of it's components into a single reporting environment. Custom dashboards, KPI tracking, forecasting tools and analytics provides decision makers with everything they need to set the strategic direction of the business. 

These are just a few examples of the different components a bespoke ERP system might contain. Should you wish, you could add modules for customer service, human resources, asset management, compliance - the list really is endless. 

Benefits of a bespoke ERP system

So, now you know what sort of processes a bespoke ERP system can help with, let's take a look at the benefits of choosing a bespoke ERP over an off-the-shelf ERP:

Limitless customisation - As with any piece of bespoke software, the biggest and most obvious benefit is the fact that they are fully customisable and that goes for custom ERP systems as well. They do not yet exist so you start with a blank slate and build from the ground up, incorporating only the modules, workflows and processes that make sense to your business.

Relevant functionality only - A major frustration with off-the-shelf ERP customers is paying for features they'll never use. That problem doesn't exist if you go bespoke. You decide what components you need based on how you operate, not based on a third party's idea of how they THINK you should operate.

Integration capabilities - Ever identified a piece of software that appears perfect, does what you need it to and is reasonably priced only to find out it's never going to integrate with your VB6 invoicing system from 1994? What a nightmare. Bespoke ERP systems can be built to integrate with any existing systems you currently use - bespoke or off-the-shelf. This means you don't need to pay for a brand new system or module - simply connect to the one that's worked for decades.

They can grow with you - Unlike off-the-shelf solutions, bespoke ERP systems can be built to easily accommodate new, additional or changing requirements. New users? New offering? New department? No problem. With bespoke, you dictate what happens to the software and when it happens - not a third party vendor.

They can save you cash - Yes, you read that right. Despite common misconceptions, bespoke software - ERP systems included - can save you cash, especially over the longer term when compared with their off-the-shelf counterparts. You aren't stuck paying monthly licensing fees for however many years, you pay for he software once and that's it - it's yours to do with as you please.

A tailored user experience - Your ERP, your UX. If you want production managers to see manufacturing schedules the moment they log in, finance teams to have instant access to cash flow and invoicing data or sales teams to work from a completely different dashboard, that's exactly what you can have. 

Automation opportunities - Whilst off-the-shelf ERP systems generally offer some automation opportunities, these are predefined and usually limited to standard processes and workflows. No good if you operate in a slightly more complex or nuanced environment. Bespoke ERP systems on the other hand allow you to automate virtually any process you wish to providing it can be defined as a series of rules, conditions, actions and approvals. 

Bespoke vs off-the-shelf ERP: A comparison

Now let's take a look at a side by side comparison of what you can expect from bespoke ERP software v off-the-shelf ERP software.

What type of businesses benefit from bespoke ERP systems?

ERP systems are traditionally associated with industries that manage physical goods. Manufacturing and engineering organisations for example are heavily associated with ERP systems. However, they benefit a much wider range of businesses than that, especially bespoke ERP systems. Let's take a look at some of them:

Manufacturing & engineering

Among the most common users of ERP systems - bespoke and off-the-shelf - these businesses usually manage complex production processes that span multiple departments from sale to production, to quality assurance and finance - there are a lot of touch points.

Bespoke ERP systems can be designed around the specific production workflows, machinery and compliance protocols of the business meaning the software supports the existing set up and introduces opportunities for improved efficiency and less manual effort.

Wholesale & distribution

Wholesalers and distributors manage a lot of stock and again, this tends to involve a lot of touch points. These businesses need to manage suppliers, customers and logistics among other things and that can get very complicated, very quickly.

A bespoke ERP system can connect all of them, integrating inventory management, purchasing, order management, fulfilment and even reporting into a single platform that manages the end to end process.

Healthcare

Perhaps a less common candidate, healthcare organisations can very much benefit from bespoke ERP systems. Being a heavily regulated industry, healthcare providers must follow stringent compliance standards as well as managing staff, patients, sensitive data, appointments and operational reporting.

A bespoke ERP can be designed and developed to reflect the relevant regulatory requirements specific to the business allowing them to stay on top of their obligations without much manual effort.

Field based businesses

We're talking trades businesses - gas and electrical, HVAC and plumbing - any organisation that has staff out in 'the field'. In addition to the complex task of managing a mobile workforce, field based businesses have the added challenge of tallying up what happens out in the field with the projects and orders on the business software systems.

By incorporating a bespoke ERP into the fold, office and field based operations can be merged. Field staff can fill out job forms, upload pictures and get customer signatures regardless of where they're at. This information will can then be automatically synced so it's visible to those in the office as well. No more paper chaos!

Multi site and multi entity organisations

Not an industry as such but large corporations with offices dotted around the country and abroad as well as those with multiple legal entities can seriously struggle when their systems are fragmented and work independently of one another. This can lead to inconsistent experiences for both clients and internal staff and can have a negative impact on a company's reputation.

A bespoke ERP system can bring these separate operations together within a single, unified platform. By centralising data, standardising processes and providing a consistent reporting mechanism across the organisation, businesses have much better control over their operations. In addition, a custom ERP solution can accommodate the unique requirements of individual offices, divisions or legal entities where necessary which allows organisations to maintain local flexibility whilst benefiting from group wide consistency.

How can we help?

Here at Cool Code Company, we've been designing and developing bespoke business software for organisations for over 20 years. That's no mean feat in this day and age and is testament to the experience and technical finesse of our development team as well as our loyal customers. Our bespoke ERP systems are built around your business, incorporating the processes and workflows that keep your business running. We have extensive experience working with industries including manufacturing and engineering and logistics and warehousing - prime candidates for ERP systems as well as more nuanced industries who can also benefit from this custom software. We'll be there to support and guide you from day as well as one once the system is live and in use, offering maintenance, upgrades and additional development support. We get customers to keep them and that means going above and beyond in everything we do. Come and find out how we can help you transform your operations for the better.