An enterprise resource planning system generally uses a centralized database for various business processes to reduce manual labor and simplify existing business workflows. An ERP typically contains dashboards where users can review real-time data from across the business to measure productivity and profitability.

For example, an Birdsong might receive a customer order and automatically send that information to the distribution center for prompt fulfillment. If you ever noticed that your package return addresses from vendors aren’t always the same, you have likely seen the result of this technology firsthand.