The 3 Most Common ERP Performance Failures (And How to Fix Them)

ERP problems don’t always scream. Sometimes… they whisper

ERP issues don’t usually show up with alarms or flashing alerts. Instead, they slip in quietly. Maybe a report is late, a team slows down, or someone creates a spreadsheet workaround that eventually becomes the norm. It seems minor at first, but it can turn into a big problem.

Over time, these small inefficiencies add up. You lose time, waste money, and execution slows down. For companies with $10M to $100M in revenue, facing these ERP problems is almost expected.

The good news is that most ERP breakdowns fit into just a few categories. Once you identify them, you can fix them, and the return on investment can be significant.

Let’s look at what usually goes wrong, what it costs, and how you can fix it for good.

1. The integration headaches that drain revenue

High-growth brands usually rely on a network of systems. Shopify or Amazon drives demand. NetSuite handles accounting and inventory. A 3PL ships the product. And a tool like Celigo ties it all together.

At least, that’s how it’s supposed to work.

When one of those connections breaks, chaos follows. Orders get stuck. Inventory data becomes unreliable. Your team shifts from scaling to firefighting. And while the stress is visible, the real cost often isn’t.

Take one retailer we worked with. They were losing 2% of annual revenue—$400,000 on a $20M business—because Amazon and Shopify orders weren’t syncing with NetSuite. Their team just called it “system issues,” but it was really a revenue leak.

Contrast that with Softies, a DTC brand that cleaned up its order flows. By stabilizing their integrations and cutting 10 manual order-entry roles, they unlocked $2.3M in new revenue and saved over $500K annually.

When integrations break, the ripple effects hit every team:

• Finance gets unreliable numbers

• Ops loses trust in inventory data

• Customer support gets buried in tickets

• Leadership starts making decisions in the dark

Fixing this starts with visibility. You need to run a real diagnostic: map out your data flows, find where things are breaking, and link those issues to business outcomes. Then, rebuild your system based on how your business actually works today, not how it was first set up. 

With a scalable integration strategy, you can protect revenue, save time, and grow without adding more staff.

2. Reporting that’s slow, outdated, or flat-out wrong

Let’s be honest: reporting problems aren’t just a finance issue. They affect every team and every major business decision. When ERP reports are late, messy, or inconsistent, the whole company feels the impact.

We’ve worked with businesses where the month-end close took more than 10 days. That kind of delay isn’t just frustrating. It’s expensive. In one case, we helped a client reduce it to 4 days, saving more than $57,000 in annual productivity costs.

Why does this happen so often? Usually, the root causes are pretty clear:

• Messy or inconsistent data coming from upstream systems

• NetSuite modules that aren’t configured correctly

• Bloated transaction volumes that overwhelm the system

When leaders stop trusting the data, they start to hesitate. Inventory purchases get delayed, forecasts become less accurate, and strategic plans turn reactive. In short, everything slows down.

The solution isn’t to work harder; it’s to clean up your data environment. This means tightening data flows, reviewing accounting structures, and automating routine tasks such as reconciliations and report preparation.

SMYTHE is a great example. They were spending hours manually reconciling Shopify data. We automated that flow and saved them more than $10,000 annually. But more importantly, their team started trusting their data again… and that trust translated into better, faster decisions.

3. Manual workarounds are costing you more than you think

When ERP systems can’t keep up, people fill in the gaps. Someone builds a spreadsheet, another person manually fixes a field, and everyone insists it’s just temporary.

But six months later, it’s the new normal.

Manual workarounds kill profitability quietly. Here’s how:

• Time gets wasted on tasks that should be automated

• Orders move more slowly, delaying revenue and cash collection

• Labor costs rise for low-value work

• Human error increases and impacts customers and partners

In many product companies, up to 15% of orders need human intervention. If you process 20,000 orders a year, that’s more than $62,000 wasted on time alone.

It gets worse when teams start to see the system as fragile. They stop trying to improve it, and minor optimizations feel risky, so manual work continues.

That’s why automation needs to be intentional. Begin by mapping your end-to-end processes. Find the repeated manual steps that take a lot of time and don’t add strategic value. Once done, rebuild those flows in NetSuite and your integration tools so they run automatically.

Don’t just assume things are better. Instead, track the impact with real numbers… error rates, time saved, and revenue gained. Automation builds efficiency and confidence at the same time.

Why these ERP problems keep happening

If it feels like you’re constantly battling the same ERP headaches, you’re not alone. These issues aren’t unique to your company. We’ve seen them across dozens of industries… from eCommerce and retail to wholesale and manufacturing.

Most ERP challenges come down to the same root causes:

• The system was built for where your business was, not where it is now

• Your internal ERP owner left or is stretched too thin

• Integrations were duct-taped instead of being properly designed

• Reporting was built around short-term needs, not long-term architecture

• Your vendors focused on tasks instead of business outcomes

The result is a system that works most of the time, until it suddenly doesn’t.

That’s why we believe in a structured, repeatable approach. We've seen it work with all of our clients, and it leads to faster results, fewer surprises, and clearer ROI.

How to fix your ERP without blowing it up

The best part? You don’t need to rebuild everything from scratch. In most cases, the foundation is solid so you just need to realign it to today’s business.

Here’s the four-step approach we use with nearly every client:

1. Run a quantified diagnostic

Start with the facts. Our clients on AlturaCare start with a comprehensive system HealthCheck that shows where things are failing, how much it's costing, and where the biggest returns are. It also helps get leadership aligned around fixing it.

2. Align systems with how you operate today

Your ERP should match how your business actually runs today, not how it was first set up. That means aligning it with your current financial setup, inventory flow, sales channels, and how your teams really work.

3. Rebuild automation around scale

Eliminate as much busywork as you can. Focus on automating tasks… like forecasting, reconciliation, and order fulfillment. The goal is to keep operations running smoothly even as your business scales—preferably without adding more people.

4. Build in continuous improvement

Your ERP isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it system. The best-run companies treat it like a living asset that evolves with the business. That’s why they rely on embedded partners rather than one-and-done consultants.

What happens when you get ERP right

When your ERP starts supporting the way your team actually works, everything gets easier. Month-end gets wrapped up faster. Orders move with fewer errors. Revenue climbs without hiring more people. Costs drop. Teams spend less time putting out fires and more time moving the business forward. And leadership gets the visibility they need to make smart decisions.

That’s when your ERP stops holding you back… and starts helping you grow.

What could that look like for your business? Take a look at our NetSuite Optimization Services. And if you need data to help make the case internally, Gartner’s ERP benchmarks are a great place to start.

Growth shouldn't come with operational chaos. Let’s fix what’s slowing you down so you can scale faster, smarter, and with more confidence.

See what your ERP can really do. Book a call with us today and start uncovering the ROI you have been missing. Ready to run faster and scale smarter? Talk with our team about AlturaCare and get a plan built around your business.

Confidence, continuity, and calm—no matter how busy it gets

Safeguard your revenue between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday with Altura’s 24/7 emergency coverage

As you know, the five days between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday can define a brand’s entire year. That’s when ecommerce peaks, systems stretch to their limits, and one small glitch can ripple into thousands of missed orders. Most teams cross their fingers and hope for stability. 

At Altura, we plan for certainty.

When your orders stop flowing, what does it cost you per hour?

If your systems froze between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, how much would that cost?

For many of the brands we partner with, that five-day window drives up to a quarter of annual revenue. A single integration failure or NetSuite issue at the wrong moment can have an outsized impact.

That’s why we created Holiday Peak Weekend Emergency Coverage—our dedicated 24/7 on-call support program built to keep your revenue engine running when it matters most.

Five days. Continuous coverage. One mission: protect your ability to sell, fulfill, and deliver without interruption.

What this weekend is for

Altura’s engineers go on-call to handle anything that directly affects live orders, payments, fulfillment, or revenue recognition.

That includes:

• NetSuite order-to-cash processing

• Ecommerce ↔ NetSuite sync (Shopify, Amazon, Walmart)

• Celigo, 3PL, shipping, and inventory integrations

• Any integration or script issue blocking orders, cash flow, or fulfillment

This weekend isn’t for cleanup or feature work. It’s for “keeping your money moving” work.

When you hit the panic button

From Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, if something goes sideways, here’s what you can count on when you contact us:

• An acknowledgment within 15 minutes of when you raise an emergency

• An engineer begins active triage within about 30 minutes

• Your incident receives immediate priority over non-critical work

• Escalation goes straight to senior engineers and your Altura account lead

You’re not waiting in a queue or opening a general support ticket. You’re activating a team that’s already committed to your success that weekend.

What you’re really investing in

With our Holiday Peak Weekend Emergency Coverage, you’re securing assurance.

Before the weekend begins, we reserve engineering capacity exclusively for participating clients, conduct proactive stability checks on key revenue flows, and ensure you have a direct line to the team responsible for your systems.

If something breaks at 2 a.m. on Black Friday, you won’t be hoping for a reply… you’ll already know we’re on it.

Who this is for

This program is for you if:

• You rely on NetSuite + ecommerce for real-time orders and fulfillment

• You’re running major holiday campaigns where downtime isn’t an option

• You want named engineers accountable for your system’s uptime

It’s not for teams comfortable with standard weekday response times or for those focused on project work instead of live operations.

The takeaway

If you want a guaranteed support slot for Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, contact us with HOLIDAY in the subject, and a member of our team will get back to you with the details ASAP.

If you’d prefer to manage coverage internally, that’s completely fine—just be sure your plan gives you confidence when volume peaks. Because the strongest operations aren’t built on hope, they’re built on preparation.

Why this matters

Your customers expect a smooth experience. Your campaigns deserve uninterrupted momentum. And your business runs best when every system is ready to perform.

When performance matters most, having Altura on standby isn’t just smart insurance—it’s a confident move that protects your growth and your peace of mind.

Secure your spot in Altura’s Holiday Peak Weekend Emergency Coverage today and head into Thanksgiving weekend knowing your systems—and your revenue—are in expert hands.