5 Ways Your Software is Losing Your Food Manufacturing Business Money
Generic business software doesn’t understand you or your business. As a food manufacturer, you have unique business processes that need to be supported by the software you use in order to optimize your success. Without software built for your industry, you could be losing money. Here are 5 ways your (non-food manufacturing specific) software is losing your food manufacturing business money.
1. It’s inefficient.
When your software isn’t built for your industry, it doesn’t provide the tools you need to run your food business. That means you have to create workarounds and juggle spreadsheets and manual notes and, even worse, manual data entry multiple times to get the data you need. That’s a waste of your time and time equals money. Plus, with a system that can increase efficiency, your team can spend that freed up time on things that will continue moving your company forward instead of on menial tasks like data entry.
2. It requires too much custom code.
Custom code is expensive. But, when you’re using software that wasn’t built for food manufacturers, it may be a necessary evil you ask of your software vendor in order to get your system to do what you need it to do. Did you know that’s not actually a necessary expense? With a system that was built for you and your industry, there’s no need for custom code because the software does what you need it to out of the box. And, with a software vendor that wants you to succeed, when you have a new need arise, the vendor will discover the best way to roll out a solution as a new feature so that it’s shipped with the software moving forward. A vendor that’s always looking to improve their software is a partner you want on your team, if we say so ourselves (and we do!).
3. It’s not integrated.
If your software doesn’t integrate with all the things you need to use for your food business, you’re required to pay for a ton of different software to run your business, which by the way is inefficient (*cough* see above *cough*). For example, if your software provides GL tracking but doesn’t provide inventory tracking then you’re required to have at least two separate systems – one for inventory and one for your general ledger. Then, if those systems don’t integrate with each other, you’re forced to manually transfer the data and ensure its accuracy – talk about expensive. And, that’s not to mention the lack of barcode software integration…
4. It’s not scalable.
Your business may be succeeding but your software could be preventing you from reaching the success you deserve because it isn’t growing with you – it isn’t scalable. Maybe you can’t acquire that other company or open that new plant because your software doesn’t support multiple locations or multiple companies seamlessly. Or, maybe business is booming and the sheer volume of orders you’re trying to record is stalling the system EVERY. TIME. Not to mention, the time it’s taking to enter those orders since your software doesn’t provide any integration with your barcoding system. So, you’re leaving money on the table.
5. It lacks transparency & prevention.
If your software isn’t built for food manufacturing, it probably isn’t giving you the transparency you need to catch costly mistakes (and it’s not preventing them for you). With manual data entry and duplicate data entry, there’s a lot of room for mistakes. However, with a system that was built for your industry, its inventory tracking capabilities should allow you to pull a bad batch to prevent a recall while its automated data entry, calculations, and integrations should prevent mistakes caused from manual data entry and more.
Lucky for you, we provide NorthScope ERP software and step-by-step guidance for food manufacturers, giving them the tools to build the business they’ve always wanted. And, even luckier for you, NorthScope is efficient, doesn’t require custom code since it was made for food manufacturers and understands your needs, is fully integrated, is completely scalable, and provides all the transparency and prevention tools for your food manufacturing business. Don’t waste another season on software that doesn’t work for you, book a free demo today to see how NorthScope can help you stop losing money and start making more.