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12.30.09 The Horizon Of ERP In 2010  By John Vinson We've come to the end of 2009, which of course leads us to looking ahead into 2010. What advancements lie ahead for the ERP industry going into next year? IFS has released a study detailing growing trends for the near future. To provide a quick synopsis, manufacturers want to see huge strides made in technological advancements which in turn, will provide greater efficiency. Before diving head first into the details, we should try and understand the general areas which technology can benefit ERP. First, new technologies need to provide a better means of communication. This covers internal communication within the company and customers. Next, advancements should provide companies better means to improve efficiency, and productivity. Resulting in the reduction of costs, and having less of an impact on the environment. Businesses for the most part understand the areas where improvement is required. The problem is developing solutions to address these problems. The IFS study concludes that businesses plan to utilize social media in their ERP, however they lack concrete ideas going forward. Of the companies surveyed, 63% believe there to be value integrating social media into ERP. A problem going forward with integrating social media and ERP is being able to have it as a high priority . While social media would provide solutions for many problems, those problems are but a small part of most ventures. Therefore, social media integration is only really important to some businesses when deciding on ERP solutions. The higher revenue companies being the first ones to really adopt social media into their platform. There might be problems getting businesses to put social media at the forefront, however, tracking environmental management is of the utmost priority. 83% of the companies surveyed found importance in tracking their impact on the environment. The reasons for this are two fold, first their actual impact and making a difference, more importantly though is cutting costs with manufacturing. The problems moving forward with environmental management, is finding ERP systems that can track it. Only a half the respondents claim to be tracking and analyzing waste, while only a fourth are tracking carbon emissions. The reason for the low numbers are simply that the ERP systems being run don't have the capabilities to track environmental impact. Therefore, a reliance on third party programs must come into play. This of course costs even more money, so many companies skirt the cost. Of those surveyed, 48% claimed their ERP system had no environmental tracking capabilities. And 28% stated only some measures were in place. Going forward in 2010, these two trends will be interesting to evaluate. While social media isn't of utmost importance, companies still see it as a boon for communication. On the environmental front, companies cite importance but lack the resources to carryout tracking. It will be interesting to see if ERP system developers will be able to come through. About the Author: John is a staff writer for WebProNews. |
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