Guide
From ERP to AI ERP
“AI ERP” is the new buzzword. Underneath it is a simple shift: the ERP stops only recording the work and starts preparing it, while people keep the decisions. Here is what changes, and how companies get there in stages.
New to ERP?
The two-minute version
ERP is the system a company runs on. Orders, purchasing, inventory, supplier invoices, payments and the accounts all live in it. Microsoft Dynamics 365, Business Central and Oracle NetSuite are ERPs.
AI ERP is that same system doing more of the routine work. It reads the invoice, suggests the match, flags the risky change, and a person approves the result.
The return comes from time and risk. Fewer hours keying, matching and checking; fewer problems found late. That is why we agree how success will be measured before we build.
What changes
A manual workflow compared with an enhanced one
Modern ERPs already automate a great deal: recurring journals, rule-based bank matching, approval workflows. The difference is in the work those rules leave behind.
- Who prepares the workManual workflow: People do the work around the ERP, and the ERP records the resultEnhanced workflow: The ERP and AI prepare the work; people review and decide
- Invoices and bank linesManual workflow: Keyed or matched by hand wherever the ERP’s own rules do not reachEnhanced workflow: Captured, coded and proposed for matching; people review the exceptions
- ControlsManual workflow: Checked at period end, often on a sampleEnhanced workflow: Monitored continuously, with exceptions routed to an owner
- InsightManual workflow: Reports rebuilt in spreadsheets after the closeEnhanced workflow: Shared models and answers in the flow of work
- UsersManual workflow: Trained once, then left to find their wayEnhanced workflow: Guided step by step in the screen they are on
- AIManual workflow: A chatbot alongside the processEnhanced workflow: Built into the process, with approvals and an audit trail
Where are you today?
Every company gets there in stages
Pick the stage that sounds like you to see the next move, and how Skalable helps you make it.
If this is you
You run Dynamics GP, QuickBooks, an older Dynamics AX or a heavily customized system. Month-end depends on spreadsheets and a few people who know the workarounds.
The next move
Move to a modern cloud ERP with clean data, reconciled balances and a rehearsed cutover. This is the foundation everything else depends on.
How Skalable helps
Glossary
The terms you will hear, in plain words
- ERP
- Enterprise resource planning: the main system a company runs its finance and operations on, such as orders, purchasing, inventory, invoices and the accounts.
- Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations
- Microsoft’s ERP for larger and multi-company businesses: finance, supply chain and manufacturing.
- Business Central
- Microsoft’s all-in-one ERP for small and mid-sized companies.
- NetSuite
- Oracle’s cloud ERP.
- Accounts payable (AP)
- Receiving supplier invoices, getting them approved and paying them.
- Bank reconciliation
- Checking that every line on the bank statement matches an entry in the books.
- Month-end close
- The checks and adjustments finance completes before a month’s numbers are final.
- Three-way match
- Confirming the purchase order, the goods received and the invoice agree before paying.
- Segregation of duties
- Making sure no one person can both create and approve the same payment or record.
- Integration
- Connecting two systems so information moves between them without re-typing.
- SharePoint
- Microsoft’s platform where many companies store and share their documents.
- Human in the loop
- The AI prepares or suggests; a person reviews and decides before it counts.
Not sure which stage you are at?
Tell us what you run today and where the manual work is. We reply within one business day with a suggested first step.