5 Signs Your ERP Is Slowing Down Growth (even if it still works)

When a company’s ERP system has been in place for years, it can feel risky to touch it. After all, it still runs the business, processes transactions, and closes the books each month. But “still working” isn’t the same as helping you grow. In fact, aging ERP systems often become invisible bottlenecks that quietly erode productivity, increase costs, and make it harder to compete in today’s data-driven, cloud-connected world.

If your ERP is more than five years old or is heavily customized, it might be holding your organization back in ways that aren’t immediately obvious. Here are five signs that your ERP system is slowing down growth—even if it appears to be doing its job.

1. You rely on spreadsheets and manual workarounds

One of the first red flags is the number of spreadsheets floating around your organization. If teams are exporting data from your ERP simply to perform basic reporting, reconcile transactions, or manage inventory, it’s a clear sign that the system isn’t meeting modern business needs.

These manual workarounds often start small but, over time, become mission-critical shadow systems. Each file introduces the risk of human error, inconsistent data, and delays in decision-making. Lack of automation wastes time and limits your ability to scale without adding headcount.

2. Integrations are limited or unreliable

Modern businesses rely on a connected ecosystem of applications, including CRM, eCommerce, warehouse management, HR, and analytics. But older ERP systems lack this level of integration, and connecting them to newer cloud-based apps often requires complex, brittle middleware or manual data transfers.

The result is a fragmented business environment in which customer orders, inventory, and financials reside in separate silos. When systems can’t talk to each other, your staff becomes the integration layer—copying and pasting data between systems or re-entering it multiple times. Besides the inefficiency, this increases the risk of errors, slows down reporting, and makes it difficult to deliver the seamless, omnichannel experiences customers now expect.

By contrast, modern cloud ERPs are designed to integrate natively with other business productivity tools, such as Microsoft 365, Power BI, Power Automate, and Copilot, as well as hundreds of third-party apps. These real-time connections turn data into insight with no manual rekeying required.

3. Your reporting is delayed and disconnected

If producing accurate reports still takes days or weeks after the period end, your ERP might be the culprit. Older systems often lack the analytical depth and speed of today’s solutions, forcing users to extract data into Excel or external BI tools just to perform basic analysis. This not only delays insights but also erodes confidence in the numbers when multiple versions of “the truth” circulate across departments.

In fast-moving industries like manufacturing, distribution, or retail, delayed visibility means missed opportunities—reacting to trends after they’ve passed or failing to spot problems early enough to correct them. Modern ERPs provide real-time dashboards and built-in analytics, empowering leaders to make decisions based on current data rather than last month’s reports.

4. Security and compliance are increasingly risky

Cybersecurity is another area where aging ERPs often fall behind. Older systems may not support multi-factor authentication, role-based access controls, or the latest encryption standards. They often run on outdated servers and operating systems that no longer receive security patches—making them easy targets for attackers.

According to IBM’s 2025 Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average cost of a breach now exceeds $4.4 million. For companies running outdated ERP infrastructure, even a single security incident could outweigh the perceived savings of “keeping things the way they are.” Modern cloud ERP solutions provide enterprise-grade protection by default, with automatic updates, continuous monitoring, and compliance with global standards like GDPR and SOC 2.

Beyond security, cloud ERPs simplify regulatory compliance by automating audit trails, ensuring segregation of duties, and maintaining consistent data governance—something older systems struggle to achieve.

5. Innovation feels out of reach

If launching a new sales channel, product line, or business model sounds like an IT project rather than a business decision, your ERP may be too rigid to support innovation. Many older systems are heavily customized, meaning even small changes are slow and expensive. This lack of agility discourages experimentation—the opposite of what growing organizations need.

Modern ERPs offer flexibility through low-code extensibility, APIs, and built-in AI capabilities. For example, businesses can quickly automate approvals, generate forecasts, or deploy a customer portal without waiting for a complete development cycle. This agility allows companies to pivot quickly and respond to market shifts—whether that means expanding into new regions, integrating acquisitions, or enabling hybrid work.

The hidden cost of “good enough”

The most dangerous thing about staying on ERP systems after you’ve outgrown them is their familiarity. Because they don’t visibly fail, the inefficiencies remain hidden. But those inefficiencies add up: Lost hours from manual processes, inaccurate forecasts, delayed insights, and frustrated employees who spend more time fighting with their systems than serving customers. Modern cloud platforms improve speed and data accessibility, enabling innovation through AI, predictive analytics, and connected supply chains.

Is it time for you to modernize?

If your ERP still “works” but your teams are constantly compensating for its limitations, it’s time to take a closer look. Conducting an ERP assessment can help identify inefficiencies and risks, as well as missing integrations, and determine how a modern, cloud-based solution can deliver a measurable ROI.

Modernization doesn’t always require starting over; sometimes, an upgrade is all it takes. Many organizations choose a phased approach, migrating specific functions — such as finance, inventory, or reporting — first, while keeping mission-critical processes running. The result is a future-ready foundation that scales with your business as it grows.

At ArcherPoint by Cherry Bekaert, we help manufacturers, distributors, and service organizations modernize outdated systems and unlock new levels of productivity with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central—a flexible, cloud-based ERP that connects your entire business. Whether you’re struggling with manual processes, disconnected data, or limited visibility, we can guide you through a smooth transition that minimizes risk and maximizes ROI.

Contact ArcherPoint by Cherry Bekaert to schedule a no-obligation, personalized Business Central consultation and discover how a modern ERP can fuel your next stage of growth.

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