Sustainability and ERP
By Kassi Burke
Sustainability is one of the hottest buzz words in all things economic, social, and environmental, lately. Sustainability is defined as “the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level.” To be sustainable is to meet the present needs without compromising the needs of the future. Sustainability is something all businesses are concerned with so how can we be sure our ERP systems are being sustainable?
Why Sustainable ERP?
Let’s start with the obvious- ERP is sustainable! Meeting current needs but making sure we are not compromising our future generations’ needs could never be a bad thing. Other reasons companies might be concerned with sustainability include: to meet increasing regulations, to create positive public relations and to reduce costs and eliminate inefficiencies,
How to Make Your IT Environment More Sustainable
What are some ways your IT environment, specifically your ERP system, can be made more sustainable? Evaluating the sustainability of your ERP system is a great opportunity to look at your ERP system to determine if it has become too outdated.
Benefits of Sustainable ERP
Moving to a more sustainable ERP system can provide many benefits including the following:
Less Paper Waste
Modern ERP systems can eliminate manual processes that require heavy printing. Implement a new ERP system and go completely paperless.
Less Manufacturing Waste
A modern ERP system can help you eliminate manufacturing related waste. Examples include reducing labor waste by making employees more efficient and reducing materials waste by managing inventory.
Sustainable Benefits of a SaaS-Based ERP System
Choosing a SaaS-based ERP system can offer even more benefits in the sustainability category, including:
Less power usage
On-premise ERP takes up a significant amount of electricity to run. SaaS-based solutions offer ‘multi-tenant’ servers that is more energy efficient offering environmental benefits and benefits to your bottom line.
Decrease hardware needs
When you choose a SaaS-based ERP system, you eliminate the need for servers, data centers, and other costly IT hardware needs. With SaaS-based ERP systems, the SaaS provider houses all the applications and servers needed to run the system. You will also eliminate time spent by your IT team maintaining internal IT systems.
Conclusion
Sustainability is so important to protecting our future, so why not take the time to look at your ERP system and evaluate how sustainable it is. Maybe it’s time to ditch the outdated system and move towards something more sustainable.
