2015 ERP Trends

This is a guest post by Ms.Haley DeLeon. Haley DeLeon writes content for Florida Tech University Online’s website, including business tech-related articles for Florida Tech’s online MSIT in Enterprise Resource Planning program. When she is not writing, she is performing music with her family band.

INTRODUCTION

As the technological landscape undergoes dramatic shifts and as customer demand keeps pace with the shift, ERP Application vendors are spending more and more resources to ensure that they keep up with the changing technological landscape. In addition to shift in technology, customers are looking at more and more ways to move the ERP Costs from Balance Sheet (Capital Expenditures [CAPEX]) to P&L (Operational Expenses [OPEX]). Keeping these in mind, this article lists out the top ERP Trends in the year 2015 and going forward. The main trends identified are:

• Cloud
• Tier
• Mobile
• Social and,
• Big data analytics.

This article briefly discusses each of the above trends.

CLOUD

Cloud computing is being discussed all across the information 

technology sphere. How does it fit into Enterprise Resource Planning? Cloud-based ERP solutions provide many economic and technical benefits, including increased speed to market and decreased up-front costs. At first, companies were reserved about placing components in the cloud, but the advantages are now outweighing the initial hesitation.
Companies like Epicor Software are offering Software as a Service (SaaS) ERP that enables organizations to collaborate across supplier networks and supply chains, increasing efficiency in manufacturing products. Many ERP vendors already have or will release cloud-friendly versions of their software. ERP professionals with cloud expertise will be in demand for cloud deployment.

TIER

Often, enterprises choose hybrid, two-tier solutions, putting part of their ERP components in the cloud and keeping some on-premises. This can be a great compromise for businesses that want the advantages of the cloud while still keeping some essential processes on location. The second tier is frequently a platform for new technological developments or additions like cloud, mobile or social features. The second tier is also used for subsidiaries in large companies that already have a lot invested in their first tier so that they can expand without having to restructure. Businesses will sometimes have their primary tier with one vendor and use another vendor for a second tier.

MOBILE

More employees and executives are using their smartphones and 

tablets to do business away from their desks, so mobile ERP is required for them to access information regardless of their location. ERP vendors are starting to offer mobile apps that allow users to remotely access critical information such as KPIs, financials, inventory levels, sales orders, customer information and decision-making tools in a secure environment. A well-integrated ERP mobility system increases communication, sales and productivity by updating managers and salespeople automatically with instant data input. Mobile-friendly interfaces are becoming an integral part of all things tech, including ERP solutions. ERP vendors and the businesses deploying ERP solutions are moving to mobile to stay competitive.

SOCIAL

Social networking is becoming standard for businesses big and 

small, and integrating social with ERP is becoming more popular. Although ERP vendors have been quick to add social media packages to capitalize on the trend, companies have not yet been widely adopting ERP in their social media plans, and the long-term benefits of having social ERP are not yet known. Social ERP can enable enterprises to integrate and automate social media platforms, share customer data in the supply chain, and increase real-time access, communication, collaboration and personalization for customers and suppliers.

(BIG) DATA ANALYTICS

Using data to make intelligent business decisions is becoming more

widespread as companies have more data to analyze. Businesses with ERP systems in place should already have lots of data, so they will increasingly be making use of analytical tools to mine this data in order to gather clear and comprehensive insights for smarter decision-making and strategizing. In 2015, analytics will progress beyond dashboards with metrics and Key Performance Indicators to intelligent and intuitive applications that allow business analysts to define and test models in real-time. Also, new additions like mobile, cloud and social will provide more data sources to analyze. 

Note: This post uses images available in Google Images. The images have been added by the owner of this blog and not by the author of this post Ms.Haley DeLeon.