A product is only as good as the customers it serves. However, there are times when your current solution can’t manage its output with the products it has. Often a key driver behind an ERP upgrade, customers need specific software that can handle their needs, and often realize their current solution can’t match it.
Throughout this decision-making process, customers often look for a way to minimize the pain that goes into implementation while working to find a focused, tailored, or even bespoke application that can meet their unique needs. Knowing this, applications need to work in unity to create a consistent ERP environment that improves visibility, saves time, and allows their business to move forward.
After discussing the idea of expanding your reach in our blogs on the importance of integrated field management software and the different editions of Acumatica and why they matter, we would today like to turn our attention towards the much larger role of integration in your business management software—allowing you to build a product that’s unique for your company.
As we’ve discussed in earlier blogs, financial management is the core of any ERP solution, providing the necessary applications businesses need to see the bigger picture, make smarter decisions, and handle the way the money moves.
However, financial management functionality only goes so far, and no matter how usable and technologically friendly this functionality it is, it only handles the finances. Today’s business needs more. As we discussed in our blog on the different editions of Acumatica, businesses have unique processes that require unique customizations, a key reason the company released editions in the first place.
Consider the distribution firm. If financial management is the core of your business, you need to handle inventory, order management, procurement, and more. In turn, it’s important the data flows between these applications and the financial management module.
As discussed in our blog on field services, core applications need to be built in—not bolted on. Whether it’s in the form of a manufacturer-ready platform that can be customized for batch, repetitive, or any other process, distribution, commerce, or the like, there are certain applications that need to be a core part of a larger product. However, there are certain situations in which you need more than a focused product—you need a bespoke one.
Acumatica Industry Editions are powerful in their own right, but sometimes you already have an app you’ve used for years that you want to bring closer to your ERP platform, or one that delivers unique features that even a cloud ERP provider doesn’t offer. Many ERP applications including Acumatica do offer powerful functionality, but could always benefit by working closely with other applications to deliver niche functionality—sales tax, payroll, document management, and more.
Ultimately, vendors need to be able to understand their strengths and weaknesses, allowing vendors to introduce complementing software that drives the core product further. This creates an environment in which a vendor needs to leverage APIs to deliver products that “play well with others” so that customers can specify exactly what they need—and get what they want.
ERP options like Acumatica are designed with this in mind, opening their development to other developers and launching the Acumatica Extension Marketplace to assist business customers in finding connectors and integrations that take the platform even further. Whether it’s as simple as a Salesforce integration or something much more complex, Acumatica can handle the unique needs of its customers.
At Cloud 9 ERP Solutions, we customize, implement, and support Acumatica Cloud ERP for a wide range of customers who need to connect the dots. Whether the needs are simple or complex, incorporated within the application or relying on niche integrations, we are proud to help our customers do more. Learn more about our successes, read through our resources, and contact us for a free consultation.