ERP Software

An ERP Tale That Must Be Told – Part 2

The number of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) superheroes continued to grow.  In 1989 Oracle sold its first manufacturing solution.  By this time Oracle was already a wealthy company making millions of dollars from the sale of its databases.  But, with Larry Ellison at helm, Oracle planned to do much much more than just sell databases.

In the late 1980s a man name Dave Duffield decided that he would join the ranks of the ERP superheroes.  Dave Duffield created a company named PeopleSoft that primarily provided human resources solutions.  However, unbeknownst to all at the time, PeopleSoft would grow to rival the giant called Oracle.

In 1986, the poor economy was beginning to recover and the software boom was just on the horizon.  In the late 1980s and through the 1990s the ERP superheroes prospered and make millions and billions of dollars.  These ERP superheroes grew like weeds.  They took on hundreds of thousands of customers and employees to service and grow their ERP solution.

Even though SAP started their ERP solution with small and medium sized businesses in mind, they began growing their ERP solution too.  Pretty soon most all ERP solutions targeted large fortune 500 companies.  ERP solutions were something that small and sometimes even medium sized companies could not afford.

As the 1990s came to an end and Y2K was pulled off without any major problems, the ERP industry started to suffer a bit.  ERP vendors realized that they had to reposition themselves in order to stay in business.  Several ERP vendors were acquired by other companies.  For example, PeopleSoft acquired J.D. Edwards.  And, Oracle later acquired PeopleSoft in a rather hostile takeover.  Not only did ERP vendors begin to reposition themselves by creating ERP solutions for small and medium sized businesses, but they also began making industry specific Enterprise Resource Planning solutions.  For example, if you are in the textile industry, you can buy a textile ERP.  If you are in the food industry, you can buy a food related ERP with built in controls specific to the needs of a food business.

As the 2000s progressed, ERP vendors began to reposition themselves even more.  With the adoption of cloud computing, SaaS (Software as a Service) ERP vendors started popping up.  Around the same time, open source ERP vendors emerged.  I for one can’t wait to see what happens with the ERP market over the next decade!

Written by :

kristine H