Short answer
Not always a full ERP. A small business often gets by with accounting software and one well-built system or module for the process where the most time is lost — for example, orders or inventory. What matters is that data doesn’t have to be retyped and the system can grow with the business.
Signs it’s time to change something
- Orders, stock or projects are tracked in several Excel spreadsheets.
- The same data is entered in two or three places.
- Only one person knows how the “system” works.
- You can’t quickly tell a customer an order’s status or a product’s stock level.
What a small business can do
- Don’t introduce everything at once. Start with one module that solves the biggest problem.
- Connect it to accounting, so invoices and data don’t have to be moved by hand.
- Think about growth — the system must be able to take on new features.
A custom system for a small business
Until recently this seemed available only to big companies. Now you can start with a small, specific solution — a so-called MVP — and develop it step by step. That’s often cheaper than paying licences for years for a big system whose features you don’t use. If everything currently happens in spreadsheets, see how to automate work with Excel.