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Tap into erp software’s transformative power with usability
When companies evaluate ERP software, they look for functions that transform business processes and fuel profitability. However, few realize the solution’s effectiveness depends on its usability. Poor usability causes employees to abandon ERP software and embrace manual workarounds that increase errors and decrease visibility.
“What’s the point in having the best functionality if few people within the business can actually use it?”
Fortunately, companies can avoid this costly mishap by using five fundamental factors to evaluate ERP solutions. These factors consider user experience throughout the enterprise as well as the intuitive features that promote widespread adoption, such as the user interface, visualization, and connectivity. In addition, the factors help companies put users first and find an ERP solution with a proven history of usability. For example, Acumatica consistently wows customers and analysts with its intuitive, modern ERP solution, earning top scores for usability from Gartner, G2, Info-Tech, and Nucleus Research. Acumatica empowers companies with a cloud-based ERP system that is easy to use, learn, and adapt to each role.
Read this solution brief to learn about the five core usability factors and gain a proven approach to finding an ERP solution that enables your employees, partners, and customers to thrive. Check out the eBook Empower Success and Amplify Profitability with Superior ERP Usability for more information on the role usability plays in ERP solutions.
Factor #1
Real-Time Data and Visualization
Usability starts with information access. Users demand immediate access to real-time data that can inform split-second decisions. However, data points alone do not provide enough context to make strategic decisions and troubleshoot problems. ERP software must reach beyond task automation to deliver information that equips companies to grow their business and better support customers—in an instant.
Acumatica delivers real-time 360-degree views of every business operation. Executives can quickly assess company health, address problems, and support pending deals. All users receive role-based project information instantly. Acumatica drives transparency by aggregating real-time data from hardware and software systems throughout the global enterprise into one database and deploying best-in-class intelligence tools, Microsoft BI and Tableau, to extract actionable insights. The centralized relational database ensures all users access one version of the truth and Acumatica’s powerful reporting engine presents the information each user requests. Users gain immediate access to real-time and historical information with drill-down capabilities to underlying sources, so they always have the proper context to inform their decisions.
Choose from hundreds of out-of-the-box reports for real-time and historical data on numerous business criteria. Use Generic Inquiry to create custom reports on demand without coding or IT assistance. Simply drag and drop the elements you want to see on the form. Acumatica does the rest. Generate multi-dimensional reporting to analyze the data from different perspectives and easily spot patterns and exceptions. Use pivot tables to visualize criteria from different angles. For example, request reports to review profitability by store, product lines, and more.
Acumatica’s on-the-go mobility delivers anytime, anywhere access to the real-time information users need most.
“With Acumatica, I have visibility into the data and insights into operations through dashboards and trigger notifications that allow me to respond and support teams across our various branches.”
Factor #2
Personalized Reporting and KPIs
Today’s workers face numerous distractions every moment with information overload pulling them in different, often fruitless, directions. Superior usability enables users to focus on what’s most important by automatically presenting their top priorities in a way that supports their workstyles. Personalized reports, workspaces, and KPIs take user effectiveness to new levels.
With Acumatica, users do not need to search for a project’s status or create complex reports to review their key performance objectives (KPIs). In a few clicks, they instruct the ERP system to continually track their personal KPIs and project status and push them to their workspace. Acumatica filters out non-essential data to give users what they need at-a-glance.
“With NetSuite, it was so difficult to remember how to get to the right screen, so employees began using Google docs, Sheets, and Excel as a workaround because they didn’t want to ask how to do something again. I find more people are using Acumatica because it’s intuitive, makes sense, and is so easy to use. We don’t have spreadsheets flying around, and people have access to the same data all the time.”
Factor #3
Ability to Engage All Users
ERP solutions optimize processes throughout the enterprise, impacting users across most departments and functions. Each user brings different expectations, experiences, and technical savvy to their role. However, most ERP systems cater to a subset of experienced users, forcing less experienced workers to henpeck their way through each application or undergo extensive training. Acumatica engages users of every level and expectation, delivering an intuitive experience to everyone, whether they work full-time in ERP applications or occasionally access the system to enter or retrieve data.
Supporting Users with Varied Technical Aptitudes
Digital Natives, who grew up with smart technology, appreciate Acumatica’s intuitive automated tasks, configurable workflows, and personalized notifications that enable them to get up and running with minimal training.
Digital Immigrants, who have limited digital technology experience, praise Acumatica’s straightforward navigation, universal search, multiple layers of support, contextual side panels, intelligent online help, and integrated processes that help them quickly learn the software.
Empowering the Most Demanding Users
- Senior Executives get at-a-glance access to real-time KPIs and personalized dashboards that provide top metrics on select operations, such as sales, finance, and customer satisfaction. They can quickly generate custom reports on real-time and historical information without IT assistance and drill down on all transaction sources. Unlike many ERP providers, Acumatica provides on-demand access to historical data without additional fees or delays.
- Power Users, who work in high-bandwidth applications, get capacity and support for resource-intensive demands. For example, they can aggregate large quantities of data from across the global enterprise and create custom reports without IT support. They can also work without latency concerns thanks to the modern cloud system that overcomes on-premises system limitations and makes extensive computing power available for consumption-heavy applications.
- Knowledge Workers, who work within ERP applications throughout the workday, receive anywhere, anytime access to all applications and a responsive design that provides the same experience on PCs and mobile devices. Seamlessly integrated applications let SMEs quickly ascertain the status of related workflows and make informed decisions.
- On-the-Go Field Workers receive the ability to access real-time project plans and make edits on any device. They can import data, such as receipts and blueprints, on their mobile app, make edits using Acumatica’s PDF annotator, audibly add notes with Speech Recognition capabilities, and rest assured knowing the data is processed and attached to the appropriate project.
Acumatica collects and filters data from across the enterprise to automatically present each user with user-defined, role-specific insights that maximize decision-making and productivity.
Factor #4
Industry-Driven Usability
Most companies deploy several best-of-breed solutions to handle industry-specific functions. Despite their sophistication, these standalone applications create information siloes that diminish transparency and profitability. For example, sales teams cannot quickly identify available inventory and order status, which inhibits upselling and customer service. Acumatica’s industry editions combine feature-rich, industry-specialized applications with core ERP business processes on an intuitive platform.
“We were running blind before. Now, we can see volume, location, and product type. Managers can prepare and put new orders into the production schedule. If a system is easy to use, then it will get used, and that, ultimately, is what we want as a business. I am still amazed that I can sit in Starbucks drinking coffee while looking at our ERP solution. That is the flexibility and usability all companies should expect nowadays.”
Distribution
Acumatica Distribution Edition connects and illuminates processes throughout the distribution cycle, enabling warehouse, shipping, and transportation workers to manage daily tasks without leaving Acumatica. For example, users can receive live orders from multiple sales channels and view inventory across locations using any browser-enabled device. In addition, workers can more easily track order status and eliminate errors with seamless connectivity for order fulfillment.
Acumatica minimizes user frustration by simplifying item and inventory management and optimizing stock levels with user replenishment, which avoids rush orders and stock-out scenarios. Users can more easily manage inventory and warehouse transfers, create pick lists, and process packaging. In addition, companies can boost online sales with commerce, point of sale, and field service applications and create new orders based on customer order history with stock reservations and requisition workflows for purchase approvals with bids for vendor quotes.
Construction
Acumatica Construction Edition empowers users with anywhere, anytime access to real-time project and expense data through role-based dashboards, analytics, flexible reporting, and inquiry capabilities. Whether they work on a construction site, in a remote office, corporate office, or anywhere else, users can access estimating power and detailed plans thanks to Acumatica’s mobile framework and applications. For example, they can adjust blueprints and update material costs or project plans on the job site with the PDF annotator and speech recognition capability. In addition, managers can approve expenses anywhere, anytime.
Acumatica keeps users engaged and projects moving by eliminating inventory and PO management delays, including drop-shipping to the job site and optimizing project material controls and operations. The solution exposes changes in project scopes, labor, materials, and equipment using triggers and drill-down capabilities. Companies can also simplify expense management with smartphone receipt capture and connect field workers with remote managers via configurable approval workflows.
Manufacturing
Acumatica Manufacturing Edition uses embedded and connected functionality to maximize usability and streamline processes for all parts of the manufacturing business. The system manages and analyzes production order details, costs, and resources with manufacturing data collection via mobile devices for clock-in and clock-out of jobs, material issues, and real-time job costing. Users can deploy advanced scheduling algorithms and demand forecasts to manage their workload and synchronize demand with purchasing and production. Acumatica simplifies estimate-to-order conversions with automated processes and maximizes resources with finite capacity scheduling. Manufacturers can shorten the engineering to manufacturing hand-off with engineering change orders and connectors for CAD and PLM applications. They can access real-time production data for costing and efficiency and manage production standards with the bill of material global replace, copy, import, and visual engineering workbench features.
Retail
Acumatica Retail Edition provides a holistic business system for retailers to connect online and in-store retail and commerce applications with the back-office ERP system. Acumatica enables receipt of orders from the Web, mail orders, telesales, or in-store purchases. Seamless eCommerce integrations with BigCommerce, Shopify, and Magento let users pull orders from point-of-sale (POS) devices. Retailers can manage inventory and meet customer demands since Amazon Connector retrieves orders in real-time and keeps inventory levels up to date on Amazon’s marketplace. They can track orders, handle returns across channels, offer targeted programs, address late inventory receipts, isolate vendor quality issues, and spot online buying trends. In addition, retailers can accept orders, charge applicable taxes, process credit card transactions, and adjust inventory.
“It’s very simple to use. I can drill into the information that I want to see. I love that it has a mobile app, and I can pull things up on my phone from home to create a quote really quickly. I also love how customers are already in the system, and it can send a quote or invoice automatically.”
Factor #5
Ease of Building Connections
Despite their robust functionality, no ERP solution can provide every capability a business will ever need out of the box. As a result, companies must consider the difficulty involved in connecting diverse systems to their ERP platform or compromise long-term success. Many systems require extensive, complex programming to create connections, service disruptions, and extensive maintenance. This lack of usability drains IT staff and hinders profitability.
With Acumatica, companies can tailor and extend the future-proof platform to meet today’s and tomorrow’s needs—with minimal programming. Low-code/no-code tools equip them to configure the solution to meet their needs on day one and extend it for future demands. They can build and modify applications via model-driven design, automatic code generation, and visual programming tools. Users can easily transfer data between systems in batches or scheduled migrations without coding. In addition, they can extend with plug-and-play extensions and choose from hundreds of native and certified integrations to connect best-of-breed hardware and software systems to Acumatica.
Acumatica’s open web services APIs streamline integration development, enabling companies to create their own integrations with minimal programming.
Conclusion
Acumatica Offers a Proven History of Usability and Results
An ERP solution’s success or failure hinges on its usability. Software solutions that are difficult to use, administer, or extend erode business outcomes while disengaging users. According to Gallup, technology that lacks usability plays a major role in disengaging workforces. Disengaged employees cost businesses $450-$550 billion in global losses every year.2 Companies can avoid this costly mishap by evaluating ERP software against key usability factors.
Effectively engage users across all departments, from digital natives to digital immigrants and executives to field workers. Deliver the real-time transparency, and insights users need to make informed decisions, troubleshoot problems, and efficiently support customers. Give users 360-degree views of business areas so they can track company health at-a-glance. Enable them to personalize their workspace and reports while eliminating information siloes, latency, and inaccurate data. Equip them to focus on strategic work by configuring workflows without coding and leveraging artificial intelligence with machine learning to automate tasks. Companies can extend Acumatica with ease via intuitive industry editions, low-code/no-code tools, certified integrations, and an open architecture.
Acumatica delivers maximum usability in every interaction, taking user effectiveness and ease of use to new heights. Compare the Usability of Modern ERP Applications to find an intuitive ERP system that supports your business goals. See why leading analysts and customers praise the solution and request a free demo.
2 Gallup State of the Workplace: 2022 Report.
