Future of ERP: Do you already have a Lean, Mean, Transaction Machine?

Companies in different industries have been implementing their second or third generation ERP-systems and basic process support for financial and material transaction should be in pretty good order. At least from a product point of view the market can be considered very mature.

So what happens now, some companies are asking? Will we have to ramp-down the very expensive systems we have been building for tens of years in order to make place for something new and better? Fortunately not.

High interest today is in the “periphery” of the ERP and how new ideas, technologies and tools can be introduced without replacing the core platform for transaction processing. The integrated core will remain the backbone optimized for business process support, and new trends and topics such as social tools, specialized cloud applications and mobile interfaces will be put on-top of the ERP platform. This will provide additional relevance to the enhancements as they are applied in the context of business processes running in the ERP. The logic is the same as with embedded analytics, which has been a key driver in ERP development for some years already: The value of analytics is highest when applied in the context of the business process and activities you are currently doing in the system.

When considering these opportunities it will be helpful to get familiar with the Gartner Pace Layer methodology (link: http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/pace-layered-application-strategy ) for developing and maintaining application architecture. The method divides applications into “system of record”, “system of differentiation “and “system of innovation”. Keep the ERP platform as system of record, with solid architecture and slow changes, and allow more experimentation in the periphery.

For the majority of companies cloud applications will not replace an integrated on-premise ERP in the near future, and I am sure you agree that you will not manage your business in social applications either. But preparing for complementing solutions from these directions could be a smart move.

The author Kim Hurtta is representing Marketvisio consulting and will in this blog reflect about how situations and challenges addressed in work with customers can be generalized, and what could be learned from them when taken apart from the company specific context.

Ota yhteyttä

Kim Hurtta Associate Director, Consulting

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