Time does not stand still and so does technology. It constantly improves on a day by day basis making it necessary to follow the current trend in order not to be left out. The following are trends that will dominate ERP technologies in 2017:
1. MORE ERP CHOICES AND DECISIONS: In the early years of ERP, the focus was to use ERP to design processes that would help organizations tackle specific functions like human resources among others.
That trend has been bucked with the arrival of cloud solutions. Cloud solutions now afford organizations the choice to add things like customer relationship management and have them integrated with an ERP system. This is causing organizations to either build their own cloud-based solutions or buy into specialized cloud-based solutions. More than ever, there is a need to consider to either stick with a traditional ERP provider or joining the trend to enjoy better functionalities.
2. SEPARATE SYSTEMS: It is true that with cloud-based solutions, there is an advantage of enjoying the best – of – breed cloud solutions. Where the challenge may lie is in the fact that not every organization will possess the right set of tools needed. if that be the case, this would present a problem for such organizations. This is a deviation from the single source of truth that is given by traditional ERP’s. If not properly handled, there is every possibility that there would be cases of inconsistent data issues.
3. FACE OFF BETWEEN SaaS and DIY Saas: Despite the introduction of Software as a solution, not every organization has fully embraced it. What majority of organizations do is to go for off-premises cloud hosting with traditional solutions. What this trend means is that organizations now license software just like they would for on-premise use. The only difference being that they run it on a private or public cloud.
4. PROVISION OF MORE DATA: There would be more opportunities to make use of data with the trending cloud-based solution. So long as an organnization’s platform is strong, they can enjoy things like predictive analytics. This would assist them to analyze business operations in a more detailed manner than before.
With cloud-based solutions it is believed that organizations are set to benefit more. 2017 will provide a playing field for competitive advantage with what can be done with this trend in technology has still not been fully explored. It is no longer the sole right of large organizations to access certain kinds of data as the new era now makes it possible for every business, small or large, to have access to such data.
5. INTELLIGENT ERP: This involves the use of machine learning, predictive analytics, and cloud deployment. What this trend has done is to provide more guidance than a traditional ERP system would. Although it is still early days, lots of software applications would need to be fine tuned to adopt the use of assistive and conversational user interface. These interfaces which are believed would appear within ERP would be a primary differentiator on how an ERP System and its associated applications is chosen. In simple words, they are game changers that would have organizations depend on it for decision-support.
6. COMPETITIVE PRICING: This is one good thing that would be triggered off by this new trend. In order to retain or acquire new customers, vendors of ERP would tend to offer prices that would be competitive with the times. Big vendors would try hard to maintain their market share if nothing else.
7. ERP SECURITY: One thing you get with an on-premise ERP is that the organization provides the much-needed security. In the case of cloud-based solutions, the trend is to share. This may give rise to a breach in security. There is a lot of threat to customer information protection for instance with an increase in data breaches. Steps ought to be made on how to improve the secuty of ERP.
These are the trends of ERP technologies for 2017. It would surely upset the applecart as we know it. Not everything about it is fully known but there is a positive belief that the possibilities that come with cloud-based solutions are endless. One thing is certain for now, it would cause competitive pricing to take place. The need for a better ERP security needs to attend more attention in order not to have data breaches.