Page 59 - MetalForming April 2015

years. After years of capturing reams of transactional and strategic data throughout their enterprises via ERP software, organizations have pivoted their focus toward making sense of this data and turning it into a strategic advantage. Simple reporting won’t cut it—enterprises will demand more robust and intelligent ways to use this information.
4) Increasing fragmentation of ERP software. We already see an uptick in the number of clients that are not necessarily looking for full-blown ERP software, but instead seek to pick the proverbial low-hanging fruit associated with point solu- tions—warehouse-management systems ( WMS), customer- relationship management (CRM) systems and/or human capital management (HCM) systems, for example. Part of this is due to a tendency for the organizational pendulum to naturally swing back and forth between single ERP software systems and multiple-point solutions. Implementing a WMS, CRM or HCM system can be a lower-cost, lower-risk venture, while delivering business benefits in a shorter timeframe than with a full ERP system.
5) Organizations will finally crack the code on organi- zational change management. Ever since we began pub- lishing our annual ERP report back in 2007, organizational change management has been one of the biggest challenges identified by companies across the globe that had recently implemented new ERP systems. However, our 2014 ERP Report was the first where organizational change manage-
ment and training issues were identified as the hands-down top reason ERP projects were delayed or exceeded budget. This suggests a trend toward a focus on these important issues. To further add credibility to this argument, consider that at some point, ERP systems will reach a point of dimin- ishing return in terms of technological bells and whistles. Then, “softer” issues such as organizational change man- agement will become the primary differentiators between companies that succeed in their ERP implementations and those that fail.
6) Flexible deployment options from ERP vendors.
Although SaaS and cloud solutions may take the cake for “most industry hype,” the real winners will be vendors who provide multiple options for different modules, business functions or points in time. SaaS and cloud systems have increased their market share in recent years, but the real trend is toward hybrid options and flexibility to accommodate the rapidly changing nature of most organizations. For exam- ple, some companies want to know that they can buy an on- premise solution today, bolt on a SaaS option for certain parts of the company as it grows and move everything back to on- premise later if they wish.
7) The return of best-of-breed and two-tier solutions.
There was a time when IT environments with more than one ERP system were considered bad practice. While that still may be the case for many organizations, forward-thinking CIOs
www.metalformingmagazine.com
MetalForming/April 2015 57