ERP Software for Telecom Industry

Telecom giants compete to provide maximum service at the lowest price. Customers always look for the best service ever since it became part of our daily life. The question is how the industry giants are coping up with the changing needs of their customers and the answer is; Accommodating an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software to the business.

ERP software aligns with the core businesses of the industry by providing a suite of applications as well as in-built tools for a transparent and reliable business atmosphere. Thus an ERP can:

• Provide real-time visibility in operational and financial operations.
• Manage regulatory and compliance risks.
• Improve revenue from products and services.
• Track and monitor existing assets and plan for new asset investments.

The complex nature of this sphere calls for a system that can constantly update and remain scalable throughout the journey. This article intends to describe how an ERP system can boost the growth of the telecom industry.

Benefits of an ERP System

An ERP implementation boosts the operational efficiency of any business organization. But, the question is how a telecom company can benefit from an ERP system. Following are the most common advantages.

1. Need to Eliminate Disparate Systems

In a challenging business environment, disparate systems with multiple User Interfaces (UI) are difficult to manage. Having to go through data piles on three different systems can surely make the day of an executive unproductive. 

A cloud-based ERP system eliminates the need to go through multiple point solutions  - as executives will have access to real-time data that connect across various departments and channels in a single system. Thus, telecom companies can focus more on customers than on handling the business process. 

2. Unparalleled Data Security

Safeguarding customer data is no easy feat. Growing threats are targeting weak legacy systems to compromise data. Thus data security is a priority for most telecom companies and ERP systems understand this more than anything. Cloud-based ERPs provide more data security than a conventional on-premise system. Because of this cloud-based ERP systems are gaining more recognition across the globe.

3. Bridging Operational Gaps

ERPs are best known for maximizing operational efficiency.  They recognize gaps in operational areas and help in eliminating those bottlenecks effectively. ERPs can create optimized schedules so that production efficiency and delivery performance is enhanced.

• The supply-demand balance is maintained efficiently.
• Company-wide visibility.
• Data-driven decision making.

How ERP Can Meet the Major Challenges in the Telecom Industry?

Telecom industry is always prone to face challenges. It is important to Maintain a tool to manage all the emerging challenges. How an ERP system can tackle it is explained below.

1. Fragmented Back-Office Operations

The market is crowded with point solutions that fragment back-office operations. This can negatively impact the company and result in reduced productivity. Since, telecom industries provide a plethora of services, automating these various processes is a necessity.

 With an effective cloud ERP system, back-office operations can be streamlined and built-into a single platform. This improves communication between various channels and managers can have a 360-degree view of the entire business 24/7. 

2. Handling Operational Costs

When there is constant innovation in an area, operational charges skyrocket. Also, running disparate systems (spreadsheets, accounting software, etc) is costly because of the need for constant updates and maintenance. 

A unified platform that can control all the areas of the business simply reduces the workload and also optimize costs. ERPs can turn your attention back to core customer needs and away from software updates and maintenance.

3. Scalability Factor

The Telecom industry is changing rapidly because a calendar year is equal to three internet years. New technologies are evolving each day. Hanging onto the legacy systems can create considerable hindrance in growth. Expansion is synonymous with the telecom industry and these point solutions are not capable of unifying data and making sense of it. 

ERP systems, on the other hand, are built for scalability, think “cloud systems” because on-premise ERP software takes you back to square one regarding scalability. Cloud-based ERP systems can grow with your business and eliminate unwanted licensing and maintenance charges since all users are up-to-date always.

4. Service Updations

Telecom companies are always bringing out new plans and services to fit customers’ needs. Existing financial tools cannot often incorporate new plans and struggle to integrate them into the existing structure. 

ERPs have in-built tools and customizations that are regularly updated. These tools can integrate any new project plans easily into the existing system seamlessly. Advanced ERPs are known for accommodating various currencies, languages, and regulatory requirements across the globe.

5. Gaining Insights into Business

Centralizing data is just the tip of the iceberg. ERPs can provide you with key insights with the help of custom reports and business intelligence. In a customer-centric business like this,  identifying areas where growth is stuck is important. 

To do this, companies should be able to gain insights into profitability by customer or service to better formulate their go-to-market strategy.

6. Managing People

Human resource management is a long exhausting process. The HR team needs to keep track of all employee needs while assessing their performance, salary, and schedule. 

An ERP system can keep track of employees and manage all their requirements on time. ERPs also reduce duplicate files and manual errors comparatively.

NetSuite ERP for Telecom Industry

NetSuite is the world’s leading cloud-based ERP software that can automate both front-end and back-end operations.  The cloud ERP adds a cluster of benefits to the package like flexibility, scalability, the reduced total cost of ownership (TCO), automatic upgrades, etc. All the employees with access to NetSuite in the organization get a custom view of the key metrics related to their area of expertise.

1. Financial Management

• NetSuite provides end-to-end visibility into all financial transactions.
• Automates order-to-cash process by eliminating operational bottlenecks.
• Provide in-depth insights into budgeting and expense management.
• Flexible billing mechanism.
• Track and monitor fixed asset lifecycle - from acquisition to retirement.
• Analyze revenue by customer, service, or product line.
• Customizable financial reports.

2. Entity Management

• Streamline operations across multiple locations, subsidiaries, and more.
• Real-time visibility into operations at local, regional, and global levels.
• Standardize business processes across the organization.
• Supports multiple currencies and languages.
• Adapt new accounting standards easily.

3. Human Resource Management

• Simplify HR processes like - employee recruitment, onboarding, talent management, and compensation.
• Manage payroll, leaves, and shifts in a single platform.
• Analyze employee performance using HR analytics.

4. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

• NetSuite CRM helps throughout the customer lifecycle.
• Right from lead generation to fulfillment (including renewal, upsell, cross-sell, and support.).
• Netsuite CRM provides real-time visibility using intuitive tools.
• Access data anywhere, anytime across the organization.
• Understand customer requirements and standardize all customer touchpoints.

If your growing business is struggling to deal with business operations and access real-time business data, you need a strong ERP system. NetSuite Implementation can help you to efficiently manage this. Get in touch with the experts of Jobin & Jismi and seek immediate assistance.