When software companies talk about how their solution is “future-proof,” they usually mean the software is designed for easy upgrades over time. As requirements change, the software will not need major overhauls in terms of hardware, storage, databases and so forth. The idea of future-proofing can run quite a bit deeper, however. With Acumatica Cloud ERP software, there is the potential to future-proof your entire business.
Being prepared for changes
Future-proofing your business means being prepared for changes you may not be able to predict. Sometimes, you can predict upcoming changes. If your distribution business is growing, you can predict that you will need a bigger warehouse—and perhaps better warehouse management software—in the future. Being future-proof, in this context, means not having to do a massive, disruptive software change project as your expand your warehouse. If you have Acumatica, you can add the cloud-based distribution management module with relative ease.
Other changes are not so easy to predict. You may not know it yet, but your business could acquire another firm next year. You could open an office in the UK. You could get a new CEO who wants to do things differently. You could even enter a new industry, like manufacturing. If you’ve future-proofed your business with Acumatica, the resulting change management process should not be a big challenge.
Changes in structure
It’s possible your company will undergo a structural change in the future. This should not create a huge IT project. For example, you may decide it’s better to run your warehouse as a separate corporate entity, or that the branch office in another state should be a wholly-owned LLC. Acumatica offers flexible, multi-entity accounting functions that make structural changes simple.
Alternatively, you may want do change your internal organizational structure. This is very common. However, changes in the org chart often beget changes in digital workflows, e.g. who has approvals over expenditures, contracts and so forth? With Acumatica, you can modify user roles to reflect reporting relationships and approval authorities.
Changes in process
You are almost guaranteed to be changing business processes in the future. This should not trigger a major software update. Acumatica gives you the ability to modify automated workflows—including being able to integrate with separate systems. Using standards-based APIs, you can connect to external partners easily.
Changes in data analytics and reporting
You know you will want to be on top of data analytics and have detailed dashboards and reporting in the future. The problem is you probably have no idea what those future data visualizations will look like or even what data they’ll cover. That is not a problem with Acumatica. The software provides endlessly flexible analytics, so you can make and remake dashboards and reports as they change over time.
Changes in IT
Legacy ERP systems are notorious for creating obsolete software/hardware environments. Even when the core functionality is still relevant to the business, the underlying infrastructure can become slow and costly to maintain. It can be very expensive to upgrade. Acumatica solves this problem by being cloud-based and cloud-native. You never have to worry about outgrowing your systems. It scales elastically on demand.
The future may be hard to predict, but with Acumatica, upcoming changes are relatively easy to handle. We have worked with many companies on implementing Acumatica in ways that ensure a smooth transition to unknown future states. To learn more about how you can future-proof your business, contact us for a free consultation and Acumatica demo.
