Working Together: Modern Quoting Software and Your ERP Solution
Today’s modern manufacturing ERP solutions aim to comprehensively manage nearly all business functions. Though the enhanced adaptability of ERP software is accelerating the departure from the “one size fits all” approach prevalent among earlier ERP systems, even these modern solutions do not account for the unique attributes nor the quoting needs of each manufacturer.
Unlike modern quoting software, ERP solutions lack transparency and accessibility to improve a job shop’s quoting process and thus grow the business in a crucial way. The adoption of modern quoting software does not come at the expense of one’s existing ERP solution. A team can easily incorporate modern quoting software to transform its quoting process while maintaining its ERP solution to manage other areas of the business. While functional in a variety of aspects, their weakness lies in the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Configure, Price, and Quote (CPQ) phases.
A crucial piece of the CRM phase, for example, is following up on quotes. This follow-up has a direct association with winning more jobs and driving revenue. When solely using an ERP system, businesses lack the high-level transparency ー namely the capacity to track information and have a clear system for following up ー that enables them to keep in active communication with their customers after a quote is sent. Modern quoting software resolves this by offering a high level of transparency on quoting details and a structure for following up on quotes.
The generic nature of ERP solutions has also meant they are structured around cost-plus pricing due to their fixation on the time and resources needed to produce a part. As a result, the manufacturing industry has experienced a misalignment in the way parts are quoted and estimated. By contrast, modern quoting software enables businesses to instantly determine the true cost of a part to drive pricing, accounting for a range of other economic and business-specific factors such as the processes of each shop and the value of their specialties.
As the leader in modern quoting software, Paperless Parts software integrates with a business’s existing ERP solution, handling customer communication and pricing to save time, win more work, and boost revenue through the crucial areas of pricing and quoting.
With the Paperless Parts geometry engine, the true cost of any part is pulled directly from the custom formulas so that users have an immediate foundation for pricing, reducing the chance for human error. Paperless Parts also enables a high level of visibility with the user’s ability to see information such as the number of views on a quote, to determine when quotes are due, outstanding, or expired, and to follow up on quotes by easily resending them from the software.
When it comes to choosing between your ERP system and modernizing your quoting process, you don’t have to select one over the other. Paperless Parts complements your current ERP solution, allows you to quote faster, manage your RFQs and quotes more efficiently, and win more business.