If your accounting sits in one program, your stock in another spreadsheet and your sales orders in email, at month-end you may find the same figure in three different places with three different values. The question "What is ERP and what is it for?" is most often asked at exactly this point.
In this article we explain ERP using the definitions of official statistical bodies and of the vendors themselves, set out which processes it covers and its current usage rate in Türkiye, review ERP system examples by type, and focus on how processes can be prepared before migration.
What is ERP?
ERP is short for Enterprise Resource Planning, and in Turkish it is called kurumsal kaynak planlaması. According to the e-business integration page of Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, ERP software aims to make information flow more easily between a business's different functions and to manage that information in an integrated way.
Vendor definitions converge on the same point. According to Oracle's explanation, ERP systems collect shared transaction data from multiple sources, so they eliminate data duplication and provide a single source of truth. Microsoft also defines ERP as business management software that integrates core processes such as finance, supply chain, manufacturing, human resources and purchasing.
In short, the essence of ERP is not a list of software but shared data: an order is entered once, and stock, shipment, invoicing and accounting are all fed from the same record.
What is ERP used for and which processes does it cover?
According to the same Eurostat page, the distinguishing feature of ERP is that it is offered as modules. These modules typically integrate the following processes:
- planning,
- purchasing,
- marketing and sales,
- customer relations,
- finance,
- human resources.
Oracle's definition adds accounting, project management, risk and compliance management, and supply chain operations to these. In practice, not every organization uses all of these modules at once; more often than not, the starting point is finance and accounting, and the inventory, purchasing and manufacturing modules are added as the need arises.
ERP usage rate in Türkiye
According to the ERP, CRM and BI dynamic table in the bulletin of the Information Technology Usage in Enterprises Survey, 2026 that TÜİK (the Turkish Statistical Institute) published on 10 September 2026, the 2026 figures for enterprises with at least 10 employees are as follows:
- Overall: 32.3% of enterprises use ERP software.
- By size: the rate is 27.8% among enterprises with 10-49 employees, 49.4% among those with 50-249 employees and 79.7% among those with 250 or more employees.
- By activity (examples): 39.2% in manufacturing, 40.9% in wholesale and retail trade and 17.7% in construction.
- Other business software: customer relationship management (CRM) is used at a rate of 13.6% and business intelligence (BI) at 7.8%.
The table shows that ERP use rises markedly as company size grows. It appears that in a significant share of small enterprises, work still runs through separate programs and spreadsheets; the decision to move to ERP, too, usually comes up at this size threshold.
ERP system examples by type
There are many ERP products, and each is built around different needs. Understanding the type before the product name makes the choice easier. The product names below are given only to illustrate the type and in the vendor's own words; they are not a ranking, a comparison or a recommendation.
By deployment model. According to Oracle's explanation, on-premises ERP runs on the organization's own servers and cloud ERP on a third party's remote servers; hybrid ERP is a mix of the two. In the cloud model, the software is delivered as a service (SaaS) and the provider handles the updates. The general framework for the cloud decision was covered in our cloud migration article.
By scale. Some products target a specific business size. For example, Microsoft positions Dynamics 365 Business Central as an ERP for small and medium-sized businesses. Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP, for its part, is described by its vendor as a cloud-based ERP suite.
By license and development model. Open-source products also belong in this group. Odoo describes itself as a suite of open-source business applications covering areas such as CRM, e-commerce, accounting, inventory and project management.
By industry. The industry-specific ERP systems that Oracle gives as examples in its frequently asked questions section offer capabilities specific to that industry, such as materials planning; as a result, the need for customization and for integrating external tools can decrease.
Which type is suitable depends on the organization's size, on how standard its processes are and on its existing systems. For this reason, clarifying your own processes before comparing products is a sounder starting point.
Preparing your processes before migration
In Microsoft's ERP implementation steps, the first items are assessing existing systems to identify inefficiencies and gaps, and setting measurable goals. The same guide recommends building a cross-functional team that represents all the departments that will be affected, a phased transition, and making sure the data is clean, complete and accurate before it is migrated.
From Orient Global's perspective, these recommendations can be turned into four concrete preparations:
- Draw a process map. Write down the main flows, from order to collection and from purchasing to payment, exactly as they run today: which step, which document, which approval, which program. ERP does not fix an unclear process by itself; it only runs it faster.
- Clean up your data. In master data such as customer and supplier accounts, stock item records and bills of materials, weed out duplicate records, missing fields and inconsistent spellings before migration. This clean-up will not last unless a habit of data governance is established.
- Define ownership. Assign a responsible person to every process and every piece of master data. Put in writing from the start who can create, change and approve which record.
- Set your metrics in advance. Measure a few indicators today, such as month-end close time, the number of manual entries or order errors, and compare against the same metrics after migration.
If the migration also covers integration with e-transformation processes such as e-Fatura (e-invoice) and e-İrsaliye (electronic dispatch note), the step at which these connections will be set up must also be part of the plan.
Frequently asked questions
Is an ERP program the same as an accounting program? No. An accounting program generally focuses on financial records. ERP, on the other hand, integrates multiple functions such as purchasing, sales, finance and human resources around shared data, as in Eurostat's definition.
Does a company need to be large to move to ERP? Not necessarily. According to the 2026 TÜİK data, 27.8% of enterprises with 10-49 employees also use ERP. What really decides it is whether different departments need the same data.
Cloud ERP or on-premises ERP? Both are valid models, and a hybrid structure is also possible. The decision should be made by weighing data location, existing infrastructure, update management and IT capacity together.
Can ERP and RPA replace each other? No. ERP is the core system in which work is recorded; RPA automates the repetitive steps between systems. RPA examples such as entering data into an ERP were covered in our article on what RPA is.
Conclusion
ERP is a management infrastructure that brings an organization's different departments together around shared data. TÜİK data shows that use in Türkiye rises markedly with company size. Product selection matters, but the success of a migration is often determined as much by the process map, clean data and clear ownership as by the product; doing this preparation before the selection also makes the rest of the digital transformation journey easier.
Why logistics experience matters when preparing for an ERP. The four preparations above are everyday work in a warehouse or distribution network. The process map is, in logistics terms, a trace of the goods themselves, from purchase order and goods receipt through storage, picking and dispatch to invoice and collection. The data clean-up keeps stock counts, locations and dispatch notes trustworthy, because a duplicated item record can split one product's stock across two entries. Ownership decides who may post a goods receipt or approve a stock adjustment, and agreeing on the metrics before go-live is the baseline-and-KPI discipline of a well-run operation. The same logic applies where the migration reaches e-İrsaliye: the dispatch note travels with the goods, so the shipment record and the electronic document should be generated from the same data. One of Orient Global's consultants brings more than 30 years in operations, logistics and supply chain: at a technology distribution company of roughly one billion dollars in scale, he ran logistics, warehousing, technical service and administrative operations end to end, building and leading teams of 100+ people and delivering lasting gains in operational performance through KPI-driven programs. He has also designed and directed large-scale logistics and distribution networks across leading retail, logistics and distribution organizations, managing nationwide warehouse and transport operations. An industrial engineer, he now brings that supply-chain discipline to SMEs through AI and automation. Meet our consultants.
This article is for general information purposes only; product names are given as examples only and do not constitute a recommendation.
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