If there was a theme for 2019, it was the year cloud-based ERP finally arrived. No longer a novelty, cloud ERP is the new normal, the “big deal” — the baseline paradigm.
But if 2019 was big, 2020 will be small … and medium. For the ERP Advisors Group Annual Report on the State of ERP, Shawn Windle sat down for a video interview to reflect on ERP trends from the past year and discuss why 2020 is the year the SMBs invade ERP.
“With robotic process automation, artificial intelligence and blockchain technology, all of these factors are converging to make investing in technology make a ton of sense,” said Windle. “In 2020, you’re going to have a ton of great options for software. It’s going to be the year where, if you’ve been on the fence, waiting to see if the cloud is for real — it’s for real.”
Windle noted that advances in ERP systems are allowing vendors to be more agile with industry-specific solutions. “Large vendors that focus on bigger companies like Workday or Oracle are moving downmarket,” he said. “And the companies that have traditionally focused on smaller businesses are going upmarket. Your options for software are going to be awesome in 2020.”
“There are several organizations that build apps on top of their platform so that, almost overnight, they can come in with an industry-specific solution for a micro-vertical,” said Windle.
Here are the three biggest ERP trends for 2020:
1. Companies and organizations of all kinds are investing in software. And that includes everyone from gigantic government agencies to emerging startups.
2. Industry-specific solutions are dominating their respective fields. The deployment cost of bringing new applications to market is lower than ever, meeting the needs of the most demanding micro-verticals.
3. ERP implementation partners are coming of age. They are meeting the challenge of understanding your business, the product, the technology, the configuration, and the customization you need.
The biggest prediction for ERP in 2020:
2020 will be the year of SMBs — the year that ERP for small and midsize businesses will finally become a cost-effective reality. For SMBs with an annual revenue between $50 million and $500 million, the number of ERP software options available in 2020 will be astounding.
ERP Advisors Group has helped over a thousand organizations become successful with their enterprise software initiatives. Because they remain technology-independent at all costs, ERP Advisors Group is becoming known as the world’s most trusted enterprise software advisory firm.
