Enterprise resource planning (ERP)

Enterprise resource planning, or ERP, is software that runs the core of a business in one system. Finance, stock, purchasing, orders, and sometimes staff all share one database. Big companies spend years putting an ERP in place. For a small business, the usual answer is your accounting software as the core, with your store or point of sale connected to it. A five-person homewares store might run Shopify for orders, Xero for accounts, and a stock app in between. That covers most of what an ERP does. A full ERP starts to make sense when stock gets complicated, like many warehouses or making your own products, which is rare for teams under ten.