During the last three to four years I have noticed a steadily increasing drumbeat while travelling around the world.
ERP has finally plateaued as a large scale corporate activity.
For years I have been frustrated by statements like "There is no need for that because we are implementing...(ERP)", or "We can't look at that now because we are implementing... (ERP)", or the real telling one, "We'd love to but our spending is tapped out because of our (ERP) blowout."
But today, clients seem to say that a lot less. Sure there are still the "old" technology upgrades - but they are nowhere near the gigantic projects that ERP has been.
So; with that distraction off the agenda, what is industry doing with that additional capacity?
From what I see... lots! But unlike the era of ERP, there seems to be no one area that companies are focusing on. Instead there are a raft of activities that seem to be getting an opportunity now that the crush of ERP has died down a little. (More)
1. Upgrades (Of course).
SaaS may change software as we know it, in Mark Benioffs' words, but that hasn't happenned yet. So until it does the SAPs and Oracles of this world will still be generating a lot of residual income here.
Lots has been written about this, and the progress cringe still exhibited by some companies. But the trend is still positive for SaaS vendors and VAR's.
2. SaaS integrations.
We recently had a very enlightening chat with Mr Jerry Huskins of SaaS and sales consultant Astadia.
His belief is that IT managers and Directors around the globe are trying to work out where and how they can leverage on-demand technologies to get the greater cost benefits that they offer.
We agree...
3. Business intelligence and process optimization.
I love work in this area. The conceptual and strategic work involved in BI implementations is a rare opportunity to dramatically and rapidly change companies for the better.
Like many other opportunities here this is all to do with leveraging the (often) huge investment in ERP and to start making daily use of the information there.
4. Niche bolt-ons and "other" Enterprise suites.
This is a fascinating and growing area of consulting. Meridium, the company I work for, specializes in this area for large aset-intensive businesses.
Companies that work in the "surrounding space" of ERP are faced with an enormous opportunity to help clients leverage their investments also.
5. BPO and IT outsourcing.
The big one I have seen. IT outsourcing has been gathering pace for a while. As ERP activity in their company lowers, more of the "manage it / do it" resources are able to be replaced with "administer it" staff.
Their was a recent Big Four report (not sure which) talking about the need for a better focus on governance. For me, this is a dead certain sign that activity is shifting. The Big Four are exceptionally we'll tuned in to industry movements.
Although a complex area with a lot of different pressures, one of the overriding ones is the ability of SaaS providers and VAR's to deliver outsourcing services.
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