Food for Thought: How to Address Evolving Regulatory Issues with Cloud-Based ERP

The food and beverage industry is facing unprecedented disruption due to the evolving global pandemic. From disrupted supply chains and consumer demand fluctuations to emerging regulatory and compliance frameworks, industry enterprises now face a critical challenge: Adapt or fail.

While there’s no silver bullet to address compliance concerns and resolve regulatory issues, food and beverage businesses can set the stage for success with cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions that deliver adaptable and agile functionality at scale.

Trial by Fire

To ensure food and beverage software addresses current regulatory and compliance demands, enterprises need a solid understanding of existing and emerging requirements. Top challenges in 2020 include:

• Enhanced document management — Recent changes to the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) now require food and beverage enterprises to ensure they meet management standards across multiple regulatory frameworks including the BRC Global Standard for Food Safety, FSSC 22200 and the Safe Quality Food (SQF) certification
• Rapid reporting procedures — Rapid reporting is a cornerstone of current COVID management initiatives, in turn requiring enterprises to both collect and submit comprehensive reporting data around staff and product safety as quickly as possible
• Supply chain disruptions — With global supply chains in flux, food and beverage businesses require the ability to quickly identify potential product issues and find alternative sources
• Evolving food safety requirements — Operational requirements around machinery cleaning and sterilization and in-person customer service demand complete documentation that’s available to auditing compliance agencies upon request
• Product traceability demands — Product origin and processing data is now a priority to both boost customer confidence and ensure regulatory demands around safe supply are met

The Made-to-Order Mandate

Agility and adaptability form familiar ground for food and beverage enterprises — rapidly-changing market conditions are par for the course in the industry. But recent global developments have accelerated this trend, forcing businesses to improve their documentation, reporting, hygiene and supply chain management at scale and speed.

While it’s possible to address emerging compliance issues with multiple, purpose-built systems or legacy ERP tools, both come with inherent issues. Fragmented solution sets demand more time and effort investment from employees, increasing the delay between data reporting and critical action. Legacy ERP deployments, meanwhile, often lack the capability to draw from disparate data sources, in turn limiting the scope of actionable information insight.

Food and beverage ERP software delivered by the right cloud software provider — such as the Sage Business Cloud X3. Sage 300c (formerly Accpac) — can help companies address both regulatory and compliance requirements while also delivering faster, flexible and streamlined management frameworks.

Key benefits include:

• Improved food and beverage operations — From food safety reporting to recall management and allergen identification, robust ERP solutions provide businesses with the data they need to improve operations at scale
• Simplified supply chain management — Solve increasing supply chain complexity with tools for management and collaboration that ensure visibility and compliance
• Transparent inventory assessment — Ensure inventory levels align with current requirements and gain enhanced product transparency to limit waste and reduce the risk of regulatory compromise
• Flexible finance and accounting — As food and beverage budgets adapt to meet new regulations and profit margins, cloud-based ERP is critical to align expectations with accounting outcomes
• Comprehensive reporting — Automatic data collection and report generation help food and beverage businesses meet regulatory objectives and provide more time for enterprises to focus on line-of-business initiatives that drive long-term ROI

Ultimately, cloud-based solutions provide the critical agility now required by food and beverage regulations, while also solving the adaptability and transparency challenges inherent to legacy ERP offerings. Paired with the right provider, cloud ERP software offer both regulatory peace-of-mind and enhanced long-term profitability.

Serving Peace-of-Mind Solutions

Compliance and regulatory expectations for food and beverage enterprises are rapidly evolving in response to both customer demand and emerging pandemic processes. Cloud-based ERP solutions can help bridge the gap between reporting requirements and actionable insight, empowering businesses to bolster bottom lines even as they boost overall food and beverage safety.

About Us

As Sage ERP solution and Sage certified consultants, IWI Group offers process manufacturing including food & beverage, discreet manufacturing, financial, non-profit and distribution software solutions to help your business meet — and exceed — regulatory expectations through Sage X3 Cloud, Sage Intacct and Sage 300c  systems.