Enterprise resource planning commands the world of software today. The ERP industry has definitely made its mark and is powering organizations both large and small, globally.

ERP Software

The ERP Industry is growing

What started out over 40 years ago as a merged software platform for manufacturing, has grown over the years into a database that can power an entire enterprise. This is a software system that for many years was pretty much reserved for large corporations, because these businesses were the the only ones that could afford the high expense of implementing the software. Implementation involved placing software servers and storage space, on-site at the headquarters of the business. Following that. employees had to be trained to use the system. the whole process was and is still very costly and time consuming. Part of the cost is also based upon the number of users (employees) known as “seats,” that would be working with the system. All of this is still applicable today, though there is also a new version of ERP that is Web-based. This is online, on-demand, software as a service (SaaS), and it has revolutionized the software industry.

Now small and midsized businesses have the opportunity to work with this software system; and they have taken advantage of that opportunity, in big numbers. Online ERP has had a profound effect on the software industry because this is the first time that software has been offered as a service. But even more so, is the ability to use one software system to manage the whole of a business. That means accounting, sales and marketing, supply chain management, distribution, retail, manufacturing, customer relationship management, etc. can all be managed with just one software system. Many small and midsized businesses have jumped on the Web-based enterprise software bandwagon and made it the most successful software market today. This software system is being utilized by a number of companies in just about every industry, and it goes beyond businesses to include nonprofit organizations, municipal governments and the military.

Yet, despite the popularity of enterprise software, there are still many small businesses that have yet to become familiar with the ERP industry. They have heard about it and what it can do, but are not sure if they are big enough for it. But there are quite a few small operations with just 5 employees that are applying this software system successfully. And with no need to purchase the software they are saving money as well as time. The system is offered on a subscription  basis, where you pay for the amount of time and the number of users. It can make your business more efficient, even if you have just 3 employees.

This is empowering software. It can help you to take your business to the next level and do so cost effectively. And it gives small and midsized firms an opportunity to become more competitive too, because it can extend their reach.

This software system has had not only a profound effect on the ERP industry, but on the software business as a whole.