He is there, in front of his screen. Dark circles under his eyes, a t-shirt from a conference in 2017, and an open Excel sheet with 38 tabs with esoteric names like "v.12_inventory_final_FINALE2". Do you recognize him? It’s your IT manager. And he is crying silently.
Welcome to the reality of (too) many SMBs in 2025.
In your company, everything is done "the way it has always been done":
- Sales? In a free CRM that talks to no one (except your former representative, who left with all the contacts).
- Inventory management? Excel + intuition.
- Accounting? A 15-year-old local solution... that doesn't sync with anything.
- Customer follow-ups? Emails lost in the inbox.
And in the meantime, your competitor is gearing up. They are automating, tracking everything, and seeing their inventory in real-time on their phone while enjoying an espresso in Magog. The result: they are growing. You, you copy and paste.
But why so much hatred towards manual systems?
Because managing a business with fragmented tools is like going on a road trip in 2025 with a paper map: technically possible, but why put yourself through that?
Here are some "small" hassles that companies experience without an ERP:
🔁 Double (or triple) data entry: Quote → Excel → accounting software → CRM → and we start again.
📉 No overview: You often find out what’s happening… after it happens.
🧠 Dependence on human memory: "Call Ginette, she knows how to bill this client."
📦 Chronic inventory error: You either have too much stock or not enough, but rarely just the right amount.
⏳ Wasted time: Looking for information, training people on your in-house system, or correcting human errors.
And your IT manager? He tries to make everything work together with homemade scripts, network shortcuts, and prayers.
An ERP is not a luxury. It’s a survival tool.
A good ERP allows your business to centralize information, automate tasks, improve customer service, and above all... stop relying on Excel files named “test2_functional”.
You manage:
✔️ Your sales
✔️ Your CRM
✔️ Your purchases
✔️ Your inventory
✔️ Your accounting
✔️ Your employees
... in the same place. In real time. Without tears.
Why now?
Because you are probably deep in strategic planning for 2025–2026. Because your employees are tired of convoluted processes. Because the government is even offering grants to help you go digital (hello, PCAN or CDAP). And because honestly, if you wait any longer, your competitors won't be waiting for you.