The Future of ERP Market
Over the last decade, the ERP market has fast evolved with vendors offering enterprise-wide solutions that have a wide range of functionality, can be integrated to other business solutions, and are scalable to growing business needs. The market in the next decade will see paradigm shift driven by wide changes being witnessed in pricing models, deployment methods, and vertical market adaptations. In addition, advancement in technologies, vendors are offering intuitive, user-friendly, and customized solutions. Different cloud deployment models such as SaaS is generating huge buzz among enterprises. The pay-as-per usage pricing model has made it largely popular with organizations looking to replace significant capital expenditures with a monthly subscription cost. Coupled with this, anytime-anywhere access has made the ERP cloud technology nearly ubiquitous.
Prominent Emerging Trends in the ERP Market
Discussed below are some of the top trends that are expected to drive the growth of the ERP market in the next five years.
User-friendly ERP Systems
What makes any ERP the most successful? The number of users who start using it, and hence adoptability is the key.. ERP vendors will focus towards making user-interface more friendly and intuitive. Attractive dashboard, easy-to-use ERP features and mobility are key factors that will motivate next generation workforce to adopt ERP solutions.
Mobility
Mobility—anytime and anywhere access on any mobile device—will be no more fad but a fixture. The complete back office and front office operation will be available on smartphones and tablets. Managers, executives, and workers can seamlessly manage key business operations on-the-go. Mobile ERP will render unparalleled flexibility to organizations. Mobile-first or mobile-only approach will be a key feature of post-modern ERP solution.
Read: ERP Software for Apparel & Textile Industries
Integrated ERP
One of the prominent emerging trends driving the ERP market growth is the demand for seamless integration—across several applications and platforms. For instance, ERP integration with CRM will be hassle-free and automated, offering a host of benefits, such as access to real time data and tracking of customer orders. Furthermore, the integration with existing or new modules can lead to significant reduction of hardware and software costs.
Demand for Cloud-based Solutions
Over the next decade, many emerging vendors will offer tough competition to IT stalwarts such as Oracle and SAP by launching out-of-box cloud-based ERP solutions. The prominence of SaaS solutions will be driven by numerous benefits: automatic updates, patch management, universal accessibility, and heightened security. In addition, demand for multi-tenant version of the ERP software will offer momentum to the market growth. Cloud-based models will be particularly useful to SMEs with constrained budget as they can reap the benefits of enterprise-wide ERP solutions without making significant IT spending.
Internet of Things
Internet of things (IoT) provides seamless network connectivity to all the connected physical devices or sensors and enables these devices to exchange data over a specified network without human intervention. Adoption of IoT along with ERP will open up vistas of possibilities which will make ERP solution intelligent, real-time, and flexible. For instance, manufactures can collect, analyze and process volumes of data from sensors, helping companies to offer new services. This will result in more customer-centric strategies for businesses.
Read: ERP Software for Automotive Industry
Summing up Market Scenario
The market for ERP solution is in state of constant flux. The market growth will be impacted by all aforementioned trends, some factors being prominent than the others. This will be accompanied by many small changes. Over the years, cloud-based ERP solutions will witness high adoption rate; concurrently, the cloud market will be filled with skepticism related to recurring subscription cost and data security for small players. However, at present, cloud-based solution is considered as a cheaper alternative to on-premise solutions and many small players seem assured about the privacy of data on the cloud. With the advancement of technologies, easier implementation of various ERP applications will lead as a more matured solution. As a result, the ERP vendors will offer customized solutions to cater to large number of market verticals, giving rise to more bespoke ERP solutions. These solutions will be tailored to meet specific business requirements. It remains to be seen, the impact of all these developments and the way they shape up the IT strategy of organizations across the globe.
