Are you looking for the best ERP system for purchasing and sales? SAP Business One might just be the answer you’re looking for. In this blog, we explain why this ERP system is so well-suited for purchasing and sales. This is especially true for wholesalers and companies in the process industry, where inventory, lead times, pricing agreements, and margins all come together on a daily basis.

Purchasing and sales each have their own responsibilities, but they are highly interdependent. Sales wants to provide customers with certainty quickly. Purchasing wants to place orders on time, without holding unnecessary inventory. SAP Business One brings both departments together in a single system, so they can make decisions based on the same up-to-date data.

What criteria should an ERP system for purchasing and sales meet?

Buyers and sellers each have a different perspective on business operations.

A buyer wants to know:

• What should we order, and when?
• Which supplier offers the best terms?
• Which items sell out faster than expected?
• Which purchase orders are delayed?
• How can we prevent excess inventory?

A salesperson wants to be able to quickly answer questions such as:

• Is the item in stock?
• When can we deliver?
• What pricing agreement applies to this customer?
• What alternatives are available?
• What is the margin on this order?

A good ERP package must support both departments. More importantly, it must ensure that purchasing and sales information align.

One source of truth for inventory and availability

Inventory is often the point where purchasing and sales intersect. Sales wants to be able to deliver, while purchasing wants to avoid ordering too much or, conversely, too little.

When both departments work with different reports, separate spreadsheets, or outdated data, problems can quickly arise. For example, a salesperson might think an item is available, while the inventory has already been reserved for another order. At the same time, a buyer might place an additional order when there are already enough goods on the way.

With SAP Business One, the purchasing and sales teams have a single view of current, reserved, and available inventory by item and warehouse.

With SAP Business One, purchasing and sales teams can view current, reserved, and available inventory by item and warehouse from a single platform. They can also view open sales and purchase orders, expected receipt dates, and historical purchase volumes. As a result, everyone works with the same data, significantly reducing the risk of making incorrect commitments and placing unnecessary orders.

More Efficient Purchasing with Better Information

Effective purchasing is about more than just finding the lowest price. Lead time, quality, reliability, and inventory costs are just as important. SAP Business One helps buyers evaluate these factors together. The system provides insight into past orders, agreed-upon prices, delivery times, and supplier performance. It can also generate ordering recommendations based on inventory, demand, and planned orders.

For buyers, this means they spend less time collecting and comparing data. They can determine more quickly:

• which items need to be reordered;
• how much is needed;
• which supplier is the best to order from;
• when an order is due;
• which orders require extra attention.

For wholesalers and companies in the process industry, this is a major advantage. In these sectors, order volumes, raw material availability, and delivery times can change rapidly. More…

Help salespeople work faster and more reliably

A salesperson needs to be able to provide quick answers during a customer meeting. Is a product in stock? What is the price? When can the order be shipped?

When that information has to be retrieved from different systems, it takes time. Moreover, it increases the likelihood that a customer will receive a response that needs to be corrected later.

SAP Business One gives salespeople access to the following from a single environment:

• customer data and contact history;
• price agreements and discounts;
• quotes and sales orders;
• current and projected inventory;
• outstanding deliveries;
• payment information;
• Margins per order or item.

This allows quotes to be prepared more quickly and orders to be monitored more effectively. It also enables salespeople to identify sooner when an agreed-upon price or delivery date requires attention. More…

Collaboration between purchasing and sales doesn’t happen on its own…

Purchasing and sales ultimately pursue the same goal: providing excellent customer service while maintaining a healthy margin. In day-to-day practice, however, their interests can conflict. For example, sales wants to maintain ample inventory to ensure immediate delivery, while purchasing wants to avoid tying up capital in items that sit on the shelf for a long time.

Tensions can also arise when:

• Sales commits to a large order without informing Purchasing in a timely manner;
• Purchasing opts for a longer delivery time due to more favorable terms;
• A supplier reports a delay, but the sales department finds out too late;
• Sales promotions are not included in inventory planning;
• Price increases from suppliers are not immediately reflected in sales prices;
• Both departments use different reports.

These kinds of problems are often not intentional. It’s simply that departments tend to focus solely on their own processes and forget to inform other departments in a timely manner or to consider the interests of other departments. Fortunately, an ERP package like SAP Business One can easily eliminate these kinds of tensions by forwarding data from one department to another at the right time.

How does SAP Business One promote collaboration?

SAP Business One integrates purchasing, sales, inventory, logistics, and financial accounting. As a result, a change in one process is immediately reflected in another.

When a large sales order comes in, that demand can be immediately incorporated into the purchasing plan. If a delivery from a supplier is delayed, the sales team can see which customer orders may be affected as a result.

Both departments work with the same product data, supplier information, customer agreements, and inventory levels. As a result, employees don’t have to exchange as much information via email, Excel, or separate lists. This makes it easier to set realistic delivery commitments, identify stock shortages in a timely manner, properly plan larger customer orders, and accurately process changes in purchase prices. It also helps monitor margins, align sales promotions with expected demand, and promptly inform customers when there are deviations.

SAP Business One does not take over the coordination between purchasing and sales. However, it does ensure that both departments coordinate based on the same up-to-date figures.

SAP Business One does not take over the coordination between purchasing and sales. However, it does ensure that both departments coordinate based on the same up-to-date figures.

Why Should You Consider SAP Business One in Your ERP Selection Process?

SAP Business One is a good fit for organizations that don’t want to treat purchasing and sales as separate processes.

The system combines purchasing management and sales management, as well as (among other things) inventory management, financial accounting, customer relationship management, and production planning. In addition, you gain many extra insights from the various reports and dashboards that are available—or that you can customize to your own preferences.

This eliminates the need to constantly transfer data between different standalone software packages. That reduces manual work and minimizes the risk of errors.

Do you work for a wholesaler or a company in the process industry that handles a large number of items, suppliers, customer agreements, and inventory movements? If so, we believe SAP Business One belongs on your list of ERP systems to seriously consider.

The software package must be suited to the workplace

The capabilities of an ERP system aren’t the whole story. Ultimately, it’s the system’s design that determines how easily buyers and sellers can work with it on a daily basis.

When selecting an ERP system, it’s therefore wise to look beyond a list of features. What information does a salesperson need during a customer meeting? What alerts should a buyer receive automatically? And how are deviations in delivery times, price changes, and sales forecasts shared between the two departments? This also includes agreements on who is authorized to adjust prices and discounts and which reports are used.

Frequently Asked Questions About ERP for Purchasing and Sales