COVID-19 has disrupted ‘business as usual' around the world. Most recently, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported that “more than a third of Australian businesses expect to find it difficult or very difficult to meet financial commitments over the next three months.”

However, businesses have had to weather other challenges long before the pandemic started. From Brexit and global labour shortages to rising tariffs and the speed of technological disruption – leaders have had to adapt to support the long-term success of their business.
  
Cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) has become a sure-fire way to build business resilience through its timely and accurate insights into operations, and ability to adapt to the needs of the business.

Here are the top four ways business leaders can leverage cloud ERP for long-term business success. 

Support flexible working 

While flexible working has increased in popularity over the past few years, COVID-19 has certainly accelerated and intensified the focus on remote working, with a report by GitLab finding that “86% of respondents believe remote work is the future.”

For business leaders looking to optimise flexible working arrangements, cloud ERP provides on-demand visibility into business operations to support employees wherever they are working.

Today's cloud platforms can unify core business operations and enhance visibility into organisational performance from anywhere. Most importantly, having remote access to ERP also ensures that everyone sees the same data in real-time – no more disparate data sources and version control nightmares!

Drive quick reaction time

Business environments are evolving rapidly – and it's not always easy to know what's coming next. Being able to respond to situations quickly and make well-informed and strategic decisions can make all the difference.

Businesses that use effective operational systems have the flexibility to move quickly and shift as the world around them does.

Having immediate access to real-time data enables employees to fulfil their day-to-day role, with the ability to drill down for further analysis where needed.

As a result, businesses can make well-informed decisions quicker, take advantage of new opportunities, realise inefficiencies and pivot in line with market conditions. 

Foster long-term growth 

To support the flexibility and agility offered by cloud-based solutions, businesses that implement ERP often find a previously unexplored world of opportunity. ERP is designed to be flexible and scalable to suit the needs of the company – not the other way around.

Rather than trying to fit a square peg through a round hole, teams can instead apply their experience to support the ideal workflow, whatever that may be.

This gives business leaders the speed and agility they need to capitalise on opportunities and streamline operations when required, supporting long-term growth.

Develop data-driven insights

It's said that data is the oil of the twenty-first century; and while many businesses have copious amounts of data, some find it a challenge to access.

Often data is not easily sorted for use, or it may be contained in disparate sources. On the other hand, if data is intuitively presented and easily deciphered, it can be used effectively to develop deep insights that drive business goals.

For example, recent months have seen an explosion in the amount of growth in eCommerce spending; having data on consumer purchasing habits, such as preferred payment methods and delivery options are empowering marketing teams to improve the customer's experience, and is likely to translate into increased sales and brand loyalty.

In summary, cloud ERP provides a platform to support long-term continuity by adding new capabilities in line with business needs.

Most importantly, though, ERP delivers the power to customise operations and access information that can be used to make data-led informed decisions quicker and with greater accuracy.