Since the development of ERP systems over two decades ago, the two major complaints from companies implementing ERP systems is now being addressed and is opening up a new resurgence and following for enterprise resource planning solutions.

Since the development of ERP systems over two decades ago, the two major complaints from companies implementing ERP systems is now being addressed and is opening up a new resurgence and following for enterprise resource planning solutions. The pressure placed on ERP developers from companies and vendors over the last decade have sparked new product innovations. The biggest complaint from ERP practitioners is that the traditional enterprise systems required perpetual upgrades and modifications requiring companies to devote significant resources and capital towards their system upkeep. Enterprise solutions were a big investment and commitment in terms of capital and human resources. This also handcuffed companies to one vendor as the cost to switch from a cost and time perspective was too high pull the plug. In addition, the first wave of ERP solutions were all encompassing and required a company-wide implementation on a grand scale with a software system that was both rigid and inflexible. Large implementations were installed in which only the core functions were used by customers leaving a significant amount of features and functionality dormant and unutilized. As a matter of fact, it was an exception if enterprise applications were fully utilized by companies. Given these drivers to improve ERP applications, developers have focused on a new generation of ERP solutions with lower costs, a reduced implementation time line, more modular, and more compatible with the latest technological advances such as wireless and web enabled technologies. As we mentioned, the cost of former “big” ERP systems and maintenance were significant investments that were more of a partnership for life decisions. ERP vendors were imbedded in a company breaking this relationship was even bigger decision for companies to contemplate than agreeing to the partnership in the first place. However, with the recent flurry of web based technologies and open source applications developers have been able to overcome this limitation by bringing hosted enterprise solutions or software as a service (SaaS) solutions to the market that virtually eliminate maintenance fees, implementation time lines and the costs associated with both of these. These hosted solutions have increased the competitive landscape and subsequently increased the standards, service and customer satisfaction levels of companies who are no longer locked in to a single enterprise vendor. The lower initial investment as well as a shortened implementation have opened up a new market catering to small to midsized companies as well as large companies. The drivers and enhancement of ERP solutions have not only benefited companies and users, they have benefited the market as a whole attracting a new market now see a ROI on these new ERP products and now implementing these solutions in their organization. Traditional ERP customers are seeing the advances in these new solutions and are now able to fully utilize these enterprise systems with more flexibility with respect to customization and vendors and a more definitive return on investment.

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