ERP Market

The International SaaS ERP Market

The international market for SaaS (Software as a Service) ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solutions is growing by leaps and bounds.  In fact, SaaS ERP solutions in Asia are supposed to grow rapidly by the year 2012 and become a two hundred million dollar market.  China currently takes the lead and has the greatest number of SaaS Enterprise Resource Planning solutions in all of Asia.  Currently, thirty five percent of potential ERP clients in Asia are looking to purchase a SaaS ERP solution sometime in the next year.

So, why all this growth in the SaaS ERP market?  Well, for one the entry cost is low.  There are no huge licensing fees like there are for on-site solutions.  Implementations are quicker when compared to on-site solutions and broadband technology is reliable and sufficient enough to pipe over the data with speed.  A SaaS Enterprise Resource Planning solution will save you money in terms of hardware.  All that hardware you would typically have to buy for an onsite ERP solution is not required with a SaaS Enterprise Resource Planning solution.  Hardware costs include computers, network equipment, servers, and the like.  You can also save money by not having to hire on-site employees to manage an on-site ERP solution.  The SaaS Enterprise Resource Planning vendor may manage your ERP solution for you.  The SaaS ERP vendor may perform all backups and upgrades as well.

Now is the time for American SaaS ERP vendors to jump into the Asian market.  Currently the only Enterprise Resource Planning vendor with a SaaS ERP solution and the capability to stick its paws in the Asian market is NetSuite.  There are several ERP vendors that are currently working their way into the SaaS Enterprise Resource Planning market.  Some of these Enterprise Resource Planning vendors include Oracle and SAP.  These companies have on-site solutions with global footprints that would work for just about any Asian country.  If companies like Oracle and SAP can take their global on-site ERP solutions and turn them into global SaaS Enterprise Resource Planning solutions, they will be sitting pretty by 2012.

Currently, in America, specific suites of SaaS ERP solutions are much more popular than the entire SaaS Enterprise Resource Planning solution.  For example, more businesses are purchasing an HCM (human capital management) and financials SaaS suite versus the entire SaaS ERP.  SaaS ERP solutions are still considered to be immature products.  We’ll have to see what’s in store for America and SaaS by 2012.