ERP Software

ERP for Distribution

ERP refers to enterprise resource planning software tools that make sure a company operates as efficiently as possible by automating and integrating the functional business processes of the company. The story of ERP software began in 1960 with the advent of inventory management software designed specifically to help businesses in the manufacturing industry. With advancing technology, ERP software solutions were eventually able to handle a wider range of business functions, and one of these was distribution. Today, enterprise resource planning software supports processes such as manufacturing, distribution, sales, and finance. Full form ERP can even include other software and business processes.

Research has proven that the distribution industry can benefit from unique ERP for Distribution software systems that have the capabilities to improve operations. In order to get information more specific to a singular distribution company, an ERP recommendation based on a business’ own functional requirements, experts suggest using TEC’s ERP – Distribution Evaluation Center, which contains the latest vendor request for information (RFI) data for seventeen different ERP for distribution solutions and allows companies to set priorities that reflect individual business models and special needs at every level of functionality.

In the meantime, it is worth looking at three particularly good ERP for Distribution software packages that cover the basic, core needs of distribution centers while catering to different sized companies in different global markets.

JDA Supply Chain Planning & Optimization Suite concentrates purely on distribution, specializing in the high mid-market. It gets a full fifty percent of its revenues from companies in the five-hundred to one billion dollar range operating in North America. Forty-five percent of Epicor Enterprise’s business comes from North American mid-level companies, while twenty percent of Epicor’s revenues come from businesses in the fifty to one-hundred million dollar range. Australian-based ERP vendor, Pronto, does seventy percent of its business in Australia. Unlike JDA, Pronto specializes in the mid and lower ends of the market.  Pronto is also different in that, along with a strong distribution module, it offers a full ERP solution with strong back end functionality.
When these three enterprise resource planning distribution products were compared, the results showed that in Supply Chain Management, ERP for Distribution’s backbone, Epicor Enterprise had the strongest showing across the board. JDA Supply Chain Planning & Optimization Suite is strong in Transportation Management, Trade Logistics, and Procurement, but gets only average scores in Warehouse and Supplier Management while Pronto Xi is also strong across the board in Supply Chain Management, but does not score well in Transportation Management.

Written by :

Amy Cruz