With the rising need for conserving resources, billions of people are turning to clean technology, including solar energy, to power their lives. Moreover, as the use of solar energy has grown, technology development, scaling of manufacturing processes, and commercialization have played a significant role in driving down solar hardware costs. But solar installation ‘soft costs’ haven’t been reduced as rapidly. The ‘soft costs’ are the non-hardware costs related to moving to solar. Furthermore, these costs include permitting, financing and installing solar panels, and all expenses incurred by the solar companies to acquire new customers, trained staff, suppliers, and cover their bottom lines. According to the Department of Energy (DOE), soft costs constitute around 64% of the total cost of a new solar system, forming the largest component of any installation. When solar installers use incompatible technology to run their business operations, it can lead to higher soft costs. It is when ERP for solar industry comes into the picture. This article explains how a unified cloud ERP designed for solar companies can help installers reduce the project’s soft costs effectively. As a solar enterprise grows, incompatible applications that don’t scale effectively or profitably eventually have to be replaced, as these could lead to higher financial and disruption costs. In their place, solar companies are planning to integrate management solutions, like robust ERP systems, that could support all core functions of the business, including project management, accounting, finance, inventory management, procurement, human resources, sales, and marketing. Also Read – How can ERP Software Streamline the Cosmetic Manufacturing Process? Without having access to accurate business data providing visibility across all essential business operations, scaling the company productively can be challenging for solar installers. When you work with an incompatible, incomplete management platform that doesn’t provide reliable, real-time data, running the solar business can quickly turn into a nightmare. Solar installers must have real-time visibility into all-important business operations and departments to improve the company’s efficiency and profitability. An erp for solar power software is powerful enough to store crucial business data in a centralized system and provide easy, real-time access to all authorized users. ERP systems specifically built for the solar industry can bring sales pipeline management, accounting, purchasing, CRM, installation project management, inventory management, customer invoicing, and business intelligence onto one centralized platform. It enables end-to-end visibility on acquisition costs, profitability, cash flow, project tracking and alerts, sub-contractor monitoring, and other vital functions necessary for the solar company’s success. Always remember that, no matter how good each application is, ensure they can talk to one another when aggregating a group of applications. The only effective way to make it possible and effectively reduce the soft costs is by implementing an integrated application suite, like ERP, that can provide reliable data and a common interface across business functions. Also Read – Why the best ERP Software is required to run construction business successfully? Using an end-to-end, fully integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) software suite, specifically optimized for the solar industry, can help installers effectively meet the demands of growing customer bases while minimizing the soft costs and, thus, ensuring the company’s profitable growth. With rising competition in the solar industry, many companies find themselves at a point where the accelerated demand puts them in a position where they find it difficult to scale or grow further. Some also find it challenging to sustain their current profitability levels and competitive position unless they switch to ERP systems that enable businesses to use the same data across all their departments. Summing up it all! With more people turning to solar panels to power their lives, the solar industry is growing faster. But with industrial growth, companies find it challenging to reduce soft costs and increase profitability. One of the most helpful ways to maximize the solar company’s productivity and profitability while minimizing soft costs is installing an end-to-end solar ERP solution. In this technologically advanced world, you can find ERP systems optimized for residential and commercial solar installers of varying sizes to leverage the rapid decline in hardware costs with soft cost reduction. It further improves margins with overall installation costs decline. Before investing in an ERP platform, cross-check with the provider how it can help reduce the soft costs in the solar installation business. Also Read – Grow your trading business with eresource eTrade ERP software
The solar energy business has had an excellent chance for expansion in recent years. However, it must overcome several technological and financial difficulties. Manufacturers of solar systems are continuously working to minimize the related costs to encourage wider use. In terms of technology, the price of solar gear, such as panels, has steadily decreased, and India is one of the cheapest solar energy producers in the world. Meanwhile, the preceding reduction in hardware costs is not reflected sufficiently in the entire solar system installation cost. Another component of solar systems is sometimes overlooked when it comes to cost-cutting. In truth, there is a room for operational and financial efficiency improvement, which may be done by reducing soft costs. The non-hardware costs of switching to solar ERP include licensing, acquiring financing, and installing solar panels. All the expenses solar companies pay to grow sales volume, compensate suppliers, train workers, and cover their bottom lines, are referred to as soft costs. Let’s focus on five points that how a construction ERP software efficiently and effectively would help reduce the soft costs. 1. Substitute commonly used commercial software. Unsuitable “point” applications that has not been deployed successfully or profitably in combination must be substituted at some point, at ever-increasing financial and disruptive costs. Integrated management systems that cover all major corporate tasks, such as accountancy, financing, project management, inventory and procurement, marketing and sales, and human resources must be deployed for efficient business operations. 2. Attempting to complete installations in a shorter amount of time Quicker installations will be an essential factor in lowering soft expenses. Companies that sell solar panels must work to reduce inefficiencies that slow down the installation process. Firms will be able to save money on labour and other operational costs through this method. Incorporating nfra ERP for solar technology is a good option because the system would help solar companies accomplish their operational tasks, including installation, quickly and flawlessly. Also, revising tactics to improve the racking base installation process and, where possible, standardize solar systems to minimize the requirement for project-based architecture. 3. Lower production time and centralized business operations ERP systems are intended to be simple and integrate, standardize, and automate corporate activities. It helps you in quick and efficient company processes by eliminating redundancy. Consider invoicing. The faster you can get your invoices out, the later you’ll get paid, thanks to an ERP’s standardized processes, including notifications and alerts to valuable team members. It’s also important to note that robust ERPs will provide you with analytics and dashboards that will allow you to track processes and workflows and provide strategic feedback to teams for improvement while retaining key stakeholders. 4. Taking Advantage of Data to minimize Costs This data management software may also aid the solar energy business by allowing them to develop analyses with reliable, data-driven insights. The lack of data in production and supply chain operations alone is causing problems for solar companies in terms of operational and marketing efficiencies. Data-driven measures can aid manufacturing cost optimization. Satellite images, meteorological data, open utility rate data, and 3D LiDAR data, for example, may all be utilized in data models and simulation platforms to predict project costs and viability correctly. This feature aids corporate transparency and allows them to enhance their operational and financial efficiency graphically. 5. Keeping customer management and acquisition costs as low as possible ERP for solar industry aids in the optimization of corporate operations, resulting in better customer service. Another important measure that might assist solar enterprises in reducing costs is customer acquisition costs. Though solar companies used to have to rely on traditional marketing methods, the internet and social media have offered new avenues for obtaining clients at a low cost. Firms must explore various social media platforms to gain an upper hand with the audience. They may also utilize video marketing methods to increase the likelihood of gaining new customers along with better customer interaction. Wrapping Up:- Minimizing soft expenses is crucial for boosting the pace at which solar projects can be deployed while also addressing one of the solar industry’s main threats: revenue loss. By lowering soft expenses, ERPs may help solar firms increase their profit margins significantly. It also simplifies the capacity to compute commissions and close the books at the end of the month, as well as provides accounting consolidation for projects, new project setup, and revenue recognition. Furthermore, the lower investment cost will encourage potential customers and investors to invest in solar systems.
