10 ERP TRENDS WE EXPECT TO SEE IN 2023

The world of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is rapidly evolving. Advanced tools and technologies are gaining power and making ERP platforms more sophisticated than ever before. It brings an assortment of opportunities, complexity, options, and risk.

However, when businesses have clear understanding of where industry and software trends are headed, they can more accurately plan business strategies and overcome potential restrictions, thus preserving a simple competitive advantage. It’s time to either evolve with the world or be left behind.

In this blog you’ll find a few of the most promising advancements in the ERP world. Read on to discover how these modern solutions and approaches could apply to your business and how they’re reshaping the market.

A bigger shift towards mobile devices.

The shift towards remote working means end-users need the ability to access information from anywhere, at any time. More than ever, end-user are using mobile devices to access company- and work- related information. As a result, ERP solutions have extended various features to mobile devices. Key stakeholders and end-users can be more preemptive with real-time forecasting, analytics, and stock updates.

More cloud-based ERP solutions.

While systems such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) have been in the cloud for many years, ERP solutions are finally moving away from on-premise and into the cloud. Cloud solutions offer various benefits including the choice of a system fully established in the cloud, or deploying a hybrid model (which still offers a degree of control for IT teams).

Businesses who are still choosing to use on-premise, legacy systems (which are becoming obsolete) are going to struggle to keep up with developing technology.

Advancements in ERP intelligence.

As ERP solutions become more advanced, more platforms are starting to incorporate technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Combined, AI and ML can help businesses extract higher quality data, cut unnecessary costs, get more value from data, and improve forecasting.

With the foundation of a solid ERP solution, AI, ML, and RPA can take over tasks that normally needed to be performed by humans. Thus, eliminating human error, reducing costs, and allowing end-users to better focus on value-generating areas.

Increased focus to deploy IoT.

Customers expect more personalized experiences from businesses (and if you can’t provide that, they’ll go somewhere else). Simply put, IoT (internet of things) devices connect to each other in order to centralize data collection from various channels and deliver those personalized experiences to customers.

Investing in IoT enables effective management of BI, delivers personalized customer experiences, and creates the potential to connect to other systems in future.

 A bigger need for more industry-specific solutions.

The demand for a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution is basically non-existent. Every industry is unique; thus, requiring more industry-specific features and functionalities.

Industry-specific solutions require less costs and time spent associated with customizations, which leads to faster implementation and deployment.

Stricter focus on security.

Systems which produce large amounts of data and link to other systems, such as a CRM, face a substantial threat against cyber-attacks, data breaches, and challenges associated with data security. And unfortunately, the shift towards remote work has only increased these security threats.

As a result, businesses are intensifying their efforts to secure their ERP systems – especially with new data privacy laws and recent high-profile data breach incidents.

Two-tier ERP.

How do businesses keep up? IoT, cloud infrastructure, and big data (the fundamental parts of ERP) are rapidly developing.

This where the implementation of two-tier ERP comes into play. Businesses use their current ERP solution at corporate level (tier one), while operating its units and subsidiaries on a separate ERP solution (tier two). In terms of licensing fees and maintenance costs, this type of strategy needs to be carefully considered.

Fully unified ERP solutions.

As the natural evolution between systems and processes continues to flow, so does the development of fully integrated ERP systems. This provides more meaningful information from stock levels, to accounting records, and CRM, in a centralized location so businesses can make more data-driven decisions.

Plug’n play ERP integration.

Considering the increase in cloud ERP implementations, the integration of standard APIs will be a trend to watch. This means, businesses could use a core ERP solution for their main business processes but use another vendor’s solutions for more specific requirements.

For example, a wholesale distributor could use a system for their distribution process, a 3rd-party CRM, and an independent sourcing solution. Customers expect ERP service providers to provide seamless integration between different solutions.

ERP continues to evolve throughout 2023 (and beyond).

In previous years, ERP solutions were thought to have been used by only large-scale manufacturing and distribution companies. However, as the world continues to evolve and digital transformation becomes more predominant, ERP solutions are being used by a wider variety and size of industries. ERP solutions will continue to become more integrated to support global operations, and become more tailored as specific industries’ unique needs continue to develop.

Your Next Steps

As you begin to look into the future and plan for 2023, it’s important to have the right solution and partner to support your efforts. When you team up with ACC Software Solution’s premier team of consultants, you’ll receive a team of experts committed to following ERP best practices, from selection to end user training, and on-going technical support —contact ACC Software Solutions today!