ERP modules are the “building blocks” of any modern ERP system, including cloud-powered ERP. In general, ERP modules serve specific business functions, such as inventory planning or business accounting.
With their built-in flexibility and scalability, cloud-powered ERP systems enable enterprises to stay resilient in the face of growing disruption. Thanks to its flexibility, cloud ERP modules can address the specific business needs of any company, thus allowing them to gain a competitive advantage.
What is a cloud ERP module?
By definition, a cloud ERP module is a component of a cloud-hosted ERP system used to address a specific business need or automate a functional task. For example, the SAP S/4 HANA Cloud is a cloud-powered ERP solution with multiple modules for business functions like sales, distribution, human resources, procurement, and supply chain management.
Here’s a look at some of the common cloud ERP modules in the market today:
1. Financial management
Among the common ERP modules, the financial management module essentially keeps track of a company’s finances, including its accounts receivable, accounts payable, and budgeting. With this module, business stakeholders get a complete picture of their company’s financial health and future projections. Depending on the ERP solution, the financial management module can automate related functions like customer billing, vendor payments, and asset management.
With real-time visibility into business revenues and spending, the financial management module allows companies to track their financial performance and make the right decisions.
2. Human capital management (HCM)
Also referred to as human resource management (HRM), the HCM module is an essential part of the HR function in any enterprise. Primarily, the HCM module is used to store employee records, including their contact information, recent performance reviews, and attendance details. It can also improve the overall HR efficiency in any enterprise by tracking employee performance and processing payrolls on time.
HCM can also automate HR-related tasks like workforce training schedules, profile screening of potential job candidates, and onboarding of a new employee. For instance, this module can connect with customer relationship management (CRM) to calculate incentives for sales representatives.
3. Customer relationship management (CRM)
CRM is another essential ERP module for any customer-centric company, primarily catering to the sales and customer support functions. It allows companies to streamline their customer interactions, identify sales opportunities, and promote marketing campaigns.
The CRM module in any ERP system enables enterprises to track customer communications, maintain contact management, and track the performance of their sales team. Companies leverage this module to track the entire customer journey, from the initial prospecting to post-sale customer support.
4. Project management
Project management is an essential ERP module for project-based companies managing large and multiple projects at the same time. Through effective visualization, project managers can set and track project schedules, milestones, and consumed resources. With a single unified view, companies can view multiple projects at the same time and allocate adequate resources and capital to each project.
In time-sensitive industries like construction, the project management module enables on-time project completion without any cost escalation.
5. Materials management
Materials management is a core ERP module for manufacturers, which helps them to manage the flows of materials, including raw materials, semi-finished & finished products. As a core component of materials management, inventory management enables companies to track and manage their stock levels at any given time.
Manufacturers with complex warehouse operations can also leverage this module’s warehouse management feature to streamline their warehousing processes across locations.
6. Risk management
Among the latest ERP modules, risk management leverages the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to identify and mitigate various types of risks, including financial and operational. Companies in highly regulated industries like healthcare can also comply with regulations like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOA).
As an example, this ERP module enables financial teams to detect and prevent cash leaks and enforce audits, while saving a lot of manual effort and time. It can also automate audit processes in any financial company, thus helping them identify any fraudulent transactions or policy violations.
Conclusion
Depending on their business needs and goals, enterprises have the complete flexibility to choose the ERP modules. With cloud ERP solutions, they can easily scale up their business operations without incurring any high upfront costs for hardware and data storage.
As a well-established player in the ERP domain, Praxis Infosolutions has designed and implemented customized ERP solutions for its global clientele. As an award-winning partner for SAP, Praxis is enabling enterprises to transition from on-premise ERP platforms to cloud-powered solutions like SAP S/4 HANA Cloud, with in-built capabilities like real-time data processing and analytics.
Are you planning to move your ERP modules to the cloud platform? Our team can help you in this transition. Contact us today.