Using ERP systems to divine the future

12/28/2011 at 12:28 pm by The Sage ERP Team

Prognostication, or the act of reading into the future, is unfortunately not an ability that’s readily available to enterprises. This may be disheartening to some executives who imagine that Apple or IBM are on the cusp of making such a discovery, but the sad fact is that the only ability business software lends companies is the power to make the past heavily documented and exceedingly accurate.

However, in some ways, this actually allows organizations to see into the future. While there is rarely any certainty to what has yet to come, there is most definitely something to the notion that the more information one has to go on, the more likely projections going forward will be accurate. It all comes down to statistics – the more data that’s available on any matter, the more confidently one can make predictions.

That’s why enterprise resource planning is so valuable. Though it can’t make predictions with absolute certitude, it can provide a very accurate framework on which to make best guesses. When no other organization is able to see the future, the best guess about what’s to come is going to be the most valuable. Here are some time frames in which accurate guesses can make a world of difference.

The day
Most of the trouble that arises when companies experience problems on a day to day basis are unforeseen accidents. These are unlikely to be seen or prepared for with the help of ERP systems, but they can be mitigated by using business software. For example, when a day is planned out precisely based on historical factors and very precise record keeping efforts, the emergence of an unforeseen act of god or disaster can be dealt with much more appropriately.

The week
Many companies operate under the constraints of a weekly schedule. Certain deliveries are made on one day, resources received on another and natural downturns felt on others. This means that being able to expect certain actions or fluctuations can help companies streamline their efforts and prepare for the variation that they have predicted earlier in the week.

The year
Fiscal calendars are very important guidelines for companies, especially those that have large-scale operations they need to coordinate months in advance. When a business is able to make projections for the coming fiscal year, it, can stop relying on reactive strategies and instead put itself in control of its fate. The information and analyses that ERP software accumulates is terrifically successful at making this possible.