ERP solutions revolutionized the business enterprises all around the world influencing all the areas and processes leading to increased efficiency and competency. Regardless of your business area and the size, it optimizes your system process and workflows saving time and expense, sheds light on overall operational view, implements reliable forecasting and planning and remains competitive in the future.
Over the last decade, ERP software solutions have fast evolved, along with the changing business requirements and growing customer needs. The market in the next decade will see a paradigm shift driven by advancement in technologies like intuitive, user-friendly and tailored ERP solutions in tune with evolving pricing models, vertical market adaptations and deployment methods. Being a best Microsoft Dynamics partner, Here we list out some of the prominent emerging trends that will shape the future of ERP solutions in 2020.
Customer-centric ERP solution:
Many business leaders are increasingly recognizing the need and unique value offered by customer-centric ERP solution which facilitates the use of product and customer data to enhance the profit and growth.
This new trend empowers the user to make faster and more informed decisions with a focused view of their business, making use of the data they can trust. The innovative enhancements of this solution enable the customers to reallocate their value time for more strategic and higher-value business activities. This new class of ERP with customers at the center will soon be embraced by all the tech-giants as well as small and medium scale business owners.
Cloud deployment:
Cloud adoption which reduces capital expenditures and IT resources will continue to rise and become generally accepted with most ERP systems in the future. Cloud-based ERP solutions propose a ‘faster, cheaper and easier’ way to automate and integrate operations and also, serve as SMB’s on-ramp to new technologies.
Cloud ERP adoption will be driven by numerous benefits which include automatic updates, patch management, universal accessibility, real-time production, and process monitoring and heightened security features. As cloud solutions are entirely managed by providers, it frees the IT support teams from heavy and strict maintenance efforts. Reports say that by 2020, the total cloud-based market will cross US $411 billion.
Continuous upgrades and efficient change management programs:
As the cloud architecture is new and trending, it will create an ongoing stream of enhancements and upgrades. This can a blessing and a curse at the same time. It reduces the steep learning curve between system versions, but at the same time companies need to equip the staff with proper change management training and support systems.
Integrated ERP systems:
ERP market growth in 2020 will witness an increased demand for seamless integration of ERP to streamline your data across all applications. For example, the integration of ERP software to CRM will be free of troubleshooting and completely automated leading to real-time data accessibility. Hardware and software cost is reduced significantly with a proper integration which in turn effectively moves your business forward.
Social media integration is also an emerging trend as many ERP vendors have experienced the fruits of purposeful marketing activities and increased brand loyalty among customers using social media channels.
Mobile accessibility:
Anytime and anywhere accessibility will be no more a dream but reality in case of ERP solutions. Increased use of mobile devices and growing remote workforces accelerated the need for mobile accessibility.
The complete operations will be available to the employees on their mobiles or tablets. The team leads can supervise and manage key business activities on-the-go. Mobile ERP solutions render unparallel flexibility and lay a solid future-proof foundation for your business ventures.
Internet of Things (IoT):
There has been a lot of hype in recent years about the Internet of Things (IoT). However, with so many potential applications, ERP-IoT integration is going to be a big hit in 2020. Its capability to increase data availability and accuracy enhances ERP solution in various areas including inventory management, forecasting, and planning, business intelligence, customer care services and many more.
However, incorporating IoT is an expensive and ambitious project but some technology giants have already started building out their own IoT ecosystems and leveraging ERP tools to take action through the information extracted from this connection.
Personalized ERP Solutions:
The next few years will definitely see the personalization of ERP rather than customization which will help them to stay up to date with the industry trends. Manufacturers will look forward to extending their solutions to support their growing needs without altering the code. According to a report by Forrester’s ERP solutions will cross US $15 billion by 2020.
In the next few years, ERP will be looked upon as the foundation for digital transformation as solutions like IoT, Analytics and AI will be embedded to support new processes and workflows. There is a chance for business owners to be the early adopters of technologies like natural language processing and machine learning to stay ahead of the game in the future.
Incorporation of Artificial Intelligence:
Due to its destructive potential, AI has already created a buzz in the software market. According to a Gartner report, 80% of the new technologies will have artificial intelligence as a key component by 2021.
AI in the ERP context, in linked with machine learning and natural language processing. SMBs can identify the less obvious trends and have insightful interference with various business operations. They can also automate routine processes like accounting and payroll administration. Through AI, an ERP solution can improve user experience as it personalizes the user experience through human interaction history. The cost of operations can be greatly reduced by integrating AI-enabled chatbots.
Boosting ERP with Blockchain:
Blockchain technology has grabbed the attention of many organizations and will continue to steal the show in 2020. The integration of this technology with ERP software centralizes business processes and workflows across multiple organizations. It not only optimizes significant operations but also shares trusted version of data between various organizations.
This is particularly important in the case of financial institutions that can enjoy more control over their internal data operations to have a firm secure grip. Experts say that blockchain technology could potentially transform how modern businesses operate enabling a frictionless functioning in a unified ecosystem without compromising on security.
Agile ERP:
IT professionals have long believed agile to be incompatible with ERP solutions but recent developments and experiences have proved the opposite: that agile can successfully be applied to ERP programs with quantifiably better results.
In a dynamic business environment, agile practices can greatly mitigate the risks and challenges faced by ERP software. Vendors and system integrators work together as one end-to-end team focused on the same set of indicators and outcomes and also help managers to make timely and critical decisions by tracking progress, outcomes and challenges.
With the evolving technologies and trends, business processes should change too to stay ahead of the competition. The organizations that invest in ERP solutions will have to learn to be more flexible as vendors offer personalized solutions with continuous updates. They should embrace the new technological advancement in areas of AI and IoT to face the challenges of both today and tomorrow. Cloud-based ERP solutions will witness a high adoption rate in the future. 2020 will definitely witness the above new trends sweeping the entire business and technical areas in an organization. It remains to be seen, the impact and the way these developments shape up the business strategies across the globe.