Xentral — the smart ERP system for startups

It is perfectly normal for young e-commerce companies to focus on themselves and their first steps in the world of online retail. But once they have taken their first steps and sold their first articles, their own requirements grow along with the orders. Suddenly, the manual workflows are no longer sufficient to document all incoming orders, resources are incorrectly dimensioned and chaos is pre-programmed.

At the latest when this is the case, you should think about using an ERP system. ERPs (Enterprise Resource Planning) help you to control and document all processes in your company. These systems are by no means only platforms of large companies, there is also a whole range of useful startup ERPs. In this article, we'll show you why an ERP system makes sense as early as possible and what makes Xentral stand out as an ERP for startups.

Table of Contents:

• 5 reasons why startups should adopt an ERP early on
• Start professionally from the beginning with Xentral
• Even Xentral CEO Benedikt started out small
• Features included in all versions including open source

5 reasons why startups should implement an ERP early on

There are good reasons why companies should think about implementing ERP systems, even in the early stages of growth. Here are some of them.

1. ERP systems help organize businesses: Familiarizing your team with using enterprise software early on allows them to internalize how to use the tool from the start and use the system across all areas of the business. This ensures that all business strands are bundled into one software and can be analyzed.

2. you save yourself a system conversion: regardless of how you make your money: every company collects large amounts of data, be it product, supplier, payment or customer data. If you switch to a startup ERP later, you'll have to migrate collected information. While this is technically possible, it becomes more costly as your data silos grow.

3 A startup ERP grows with you: Ideally, the functions of an ERP system can be tailored to the needs of users. On the one hand, this means that users are not overloaded with unwanted features right from the start. On the other hand, the systems can also be expanded as your own requirements gradually increase.

4. automation speeds up your business: Every company wants to automate as many of its processes as possible. The reason: manual business processes are costly and prone to errors. With an ERP, daily order processing tasks can be handled by themselves. This saves time and creates space for the really important things.

5. ERPs create trust: An ERP does not only include pure enterprise resource planning. CRM (Customer Relationship Management) should always be an integral part of your system. With the help of CRM functions, you can maintain relationships with customers and suppliers and improve your service. This creates trust and strengthens the image of your company.

Even Xentral CEO Benedikt started small once

Especially for companies with enterprise resource planning, such as e-commerce and/or manufacturing, all resources must be optimally planned and coordinated. If you start with independent tools and documents, you cannot integrate the individual components later - they have to be synchronized and evaluated manually again and again. Startups primarily want to save costs and maintain their flexibility during the founding phase. This is precisely why it pays for founders to work with an ERP system right from the start.

Xentral CEO Benedikt Sauter faced the same problem as a young founder: he needed a professional ERP system, but he could not afford it. "When we launched our hardware company embedded projects in 2008, we needed an ERP system that could oversee the complex enterprise resource planning," Sauter recalls. "There was no suitable system or it was simply too expensive for us as a startup.

So we programmed a tool ourselves." - the birth of the cloud ERP Xentral. Since Benedikt knows from his own experience how cost-efficient startups have to work in the initial phase, Xentral offers a monthly or annual subscription model. This way, high initial investments can be avoided. The pricing models Core, Growth and Professional allow a lot of flexibility. Whether you want to start from your garage as a solo entrepreneur or you are already processing several thousand orders per week, at Xentral you will find the right plan for your business.

⁠Xentral - The ERP system for growth companies

Xentral puts founders on track: Whether material procurement, human resources, marketing or sales - all data converge in the ERP system and the key figures are always up to date and can be accessed at any time. At the same time, the administrative effort is reduced to a minimum. This saves time and money.

The earlier founders introduce an ERP system, the more transparent the overview of costs and resources. For startups, Xentral's Core model offers a low-cost entry with all standard functions for mapping your workflow. With the Growth model, you also get access to the Pro apps of the enterprise software. 

The connection to online store systems such as WooCommerce, Shopware or Shopify is also possible via the AppStore. Startups like Buah, FLSK and Pumperlgsund have chosen Xentral's ERP system. "With Xentral, we have now found a system that not only handles our CRM, but also our inventory management and the complete processing of our online store orders," says Linda Dröge. "In addition to the customized system, we always have a personal contact person and, due to the sympathetic pricing, we don't have to plunge into an unaffordable initial investment."

Features included in all versions

• Address and item management
• Offer/order management and online store connection
• Order management and goods receiving
• Invoice, credit note, cancellation invoice and own number ranges
• Simple overview and evaluation of sales figures
• Simple time recording for employees
• Import/export center
• Delivery bills, warehouse management
• User administration, printer, device interfaces
• Team management with wiki, tasks, pinboard, correspondences