ERP for small business
Businesses need efficient process, the focus of leadership and structure that can stretch to enable the business to grow safely as a massive 55% of businesses don’t survive the first five years. The observers offer shallow explanations as to why this happens. I continuosly observe three key reasons why this tragedy happens so often and to so many individuals with different experience, education and skill.
The first reason is insufficient market understanding.
No foresight. For example People have the concept, create the product and then expect the market to come and purchase. In networked age there is no excuse for lack of research before wasting any time and cash on creating a product until you have solid confirmed there is a market.
The number two reason is lack of comprehension of fundamental facts about business.
The majority of people starting a company know their trade, how to offer a service or make a product, but not how to run a business. Having the ability to understand and follow the numbers in the Income statement or the balance sheet is an essential skill. The basic knowledge of accounting is rarely imparted well by the business publications, online resources and experts with the knowledge such as accountants and bookkeepers. The problem is worsened by greedy and short sighted software makers such as Sage software misleading the market by selling only a portion of the functionality actually needed by small businesses.
Sage software and other vendors as usual are underserving small businesses.
Large enterprises way back figured out that all of their Information systems should be joined together to give them a total view of the business and then along came ERP software solutions and packages. One vendor NetSuite had the vision to see the opening in the market and started offering its small business ERP software. NetSuite competitors have seen the gap as well and as a result cheaper easier to use systems have emerged.
The final reason companies don’t make it is a because of the lack of practical management processes and policies to enable a sustainable fabric of disciplines and behaviours.
