Many business enterprises do use Enterprise Resource Planning Software in order to manage all their business functions.
ERP is generally designed to perform Integration, Automation, Data Analysis, Accounting, Tracking, creating Reports, and developing Customer Relationship Management.
Through the years, ERP has evolved massively with many features being developed and improved in order to help diverse organizations irrespective of their size.
New introductions in the ERP created a lot of buzz from the past 5 years.
Here is the detailed report of major trends in Enterprise Resource Planning in the past 5 years:
Top Trends in the year 2014
Mobile ERP:
Even though ERP had been used on mobile platforms before, it was majorly used on computer devices for most of the time. During the period of 2014, many employees started accessing ERP through mobile platforms to access real-time data from anywhere.
Vendors initiated creating and developing easy methods for employees to accomplish this. So, usage of ERP through mobile devices had increased.
Cloud ERP:
Enterprise owners had been a little reluctant to store all their enterprise data on the cloud. That is because they didn’t want to store their prime aspects on it.
But gradually, many of them advanced towards using Cloud to integrate all the data across supplier networks to maintain efficiency throughout manufacturing products.
Certainly, Cloud ERP took off in the year 2014.
Two-tier ERP:
Large Organizations kept managing all their processes in a single ERP. Due to many expensive failures, two-tier ERP came into play.
A lot of organizations started using one ERP for all the major and higher processes in the organization. And another subsidiary ERP for all the minor and lower processes of the business.
Social Media ERP:
In 2014, there had been a lot of speculations whether adding and integrating social media with ERP would be beneficial for organizations.
But as the years progressed, social media was kept intact and many improvements were made to the social media ERP.
Elimination of Middlemen:
Before, traditional small-sized and mid-sized organizations relied on middlemen to collect data from various data sources.
As Michelle Donaldson, a senior business consultant at Exact Software, said, “2014 will see more offerings of affordable mid-market technology to skip the barcodes and clock swipes in the lieu of a direct link between machine and ERP database for consumption, completions and labor updates”.
The year 2014 marked the highest number of ERP implementations, until then.
Trends in 2015
Cloud and Mobile ERP gain higher Market Share:
Cloud ERP continued to gain exposure and speed in the IT market.
And in mobile ERP, the vendors had successfully created feasible dashboards, features and functions compatible with many mobile devices.
Introduction to IoT and Big Data Analysis:
IoT had been introduced to ERP during the year 2014 but the hype for it started in around 2015.
The inculcation of IoT and ERP helped the businesses understand and detect if there are any faults and disrupt the whole process. So, IoT enterprise helps managers to issue maintenance to the process before it breaks down.
Business Intelligence in ERP:
Many enterprises started adopting Business Intelligence tools in order to raise their return on investment (ROI) in the year 2014.
And this trend continued in the year 2015 as well.
Educated Buyers:
From the early 2015, many buyers seemed to be interested in understanding the product before buying it.
Adequate researches and studies are performed on the product before purchasing it. Hence, product efficiency must be kept in mind.
Trends in 2016
Small and Mid-size Organizations:
Until 2016, large organizations had technological advantages over small and mid sized organizations.
However, since then, the SaaS ERPs became more cost effective and easier to deploy. Thus, simplifying their problems to catch up with the market.
Cloud ERP leveraged MaaS:
Manufacturing as a Service meant taking a factory on a lease and only pay for the production time rather than spending capital on the building of the factory.
But it changed, by adopting Cloud-based ERP, which makes it easier to interpret the data and act on it. Companies also get to enjoy the advantages of this cost efficient model.
New Datastreams introduced:
Several ERPs like, those that manage customer relationship will see the new data streams that are being introduced. For example, introducing social media played a major role in increasing customer loyalty and satisfaction.
New Improvements in cloud ERP
The hype around cloud gradually started dying down during 2016. That still didn’t eradicate the benefits of cloud and many ERPs still cam forward to use a cloud-based product.
Trends in 2017
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence became an important part of the business functions. It reduced operational costs for low level tasks such as sending purchase orders etc. This helped companies keep their focus more on innovative and primitive functions of the business.
Thus using Artificial Intelligence in the ERP had proven to be most effective decision for most of the business companies.
All about Security
The prime component of any technology or software is the security of it.
As companies contain confidential and sensitive data which should not be exposed to any other entity, many vendors try and develop a product that ensure top-level security for their products.
2016 saw the rise of security level in ERP software as well.
Integrated CRM, BI and ERP
A cloud based ERP allows the organization to access their data on a single and end-to-end platform without requiring any separate systems.
Vendors developed products by integrating CRM, BI and ERP to make the data available on a single platform to help integrated business processes. Microsoft Dynamics 365 was one such platform.
Improvements in Cloud, Mobile and Social ERP
Cloud, Mobile and Social ERP became essential for cutting down the costs of the company and making it effective.
Trends in 2018
SaaS ERP Enhanced
SaaS ERP was already introduced before 2018. However, according to Forrester, the transition of ERP to SaaS model would likely to accelerate in the consecutive three years, i.e., 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Also, Forrester suggests to consider all the factors of the ERP before jumping into adopting the SaaS model, like costs, benefits, flexibilty, compatibility and usability.
Two-tier ERP
This turned out to be really helpful for large organizations.
Using two-tier ERP can give a better cost structure for the organizations. This proved to be beneficial for the organizations which work cohesively but at different locations.
More ERP Companies
Many small sized companies emerged due to the cost efficiency of the ERP software.
Generally, the huge companies like SAP, Microsoft and Oracle conquer the world of ERP but 2018 saw new companies evolve to compete with huge organizations in the enterprise.
Introducing Blockchain in ERP
Many enterprises showed interest in the Blockchain technology to introduce it in their ERP.
According to CIO, Samsung revealed that it was interested in inducing Blockchain technology to reduce its supply chain costs. They estimated that introducing Blockchain in their enterprise could reduce costs by 20 percent.
Trends in 2019
Personalization
ERP systems nowadays are built for personalization. Many are offering tools to make it easy for everyone including non-programmers to use and customize the application according to their needs.
Cloud ERP
Cloud based ERP had played a major role in managing business functions through the years. It is now acting like the key to digital transformations.
Organizations are developing certain cloud strategies based on their ERP and the core system.
Extending ERP with AI, ML and Analytics
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are part of today’s ERP system allowing your organization to grow and scale your business functions.
Investing in add-on products for the organization’s ERP will no longer be necessary since they provide both intelligence and automation.
Final Word
ERP had been growing since the past five years with new add-ons every year while improving the old features.
Analyse and Calculate the necessity and flexibility of the ERP you use for your organization carefully.
