Here at ECI, we often try to predict what the future of business consulting and software will bring. After scouring the web and our own history books for trends, we believe the following is an accurate depiction of where the industry is headed:
MODERNIZED ERP SOLUTIONS
The ERP users of tomorrow will have grown up with social networking tools and touch based interfaces that we couldn’t have dreamed of as students. If we expect them to be productive and efficient employees, it would be ridiculous to expect these future employees to use archaic and outdated systems. That’s why we’re already seeing a shift towards more attractive and user friendly offerings from companies like Infor, focusing on consumer products as a blue print for how their business software should operate. ERP vendors of the future will be pressured into creating more intuitive systems that employees can pick up naturally, and therefore be more useful when using the technology.
MOBILE EVERYTHING
As we have already seen, mobile and cloud technology are fast becoming the option of choice when it comes to storing and accessing data. As our lives have become spread out across the globe thanks to the internet and modern travel, our businesses have followed us in tow. From management to the shop floor worker, industry employees are discovering the benefits of being able to work and analyze data on the go. As ERP innovation paves the way for mobile use, we will also see a rise in mobile employees; satellite offices and contract workers will find their jobs made easier by the advent of mobile data and technology which will lead to a more productive workforce.
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE AND ANALYTICS
We’ve already seen the rise in focus on business intelligence and analytics, and we’re going to continue to see it rise exponentially. After decades of collecting useful data, now more than ever we need the ability to turn that data into actionable information that can be used to improve the business experience for both businesses and customers. Modern ERP’s are already using this notion to give precise feedback on data collected about your business, allowing key decision makers to move their company forward in the right direction instead of blindly fumbling for the answers.
We can’t predict everything that’s going to change in the ERP landscape in the future, so this is by no means a comprehensive list. However, we are confident that history is teaching us that the ERP systems and users of tomorrow are going to demand intuitive, clean-cut data with which to make sound business decisions that improve the experience for both customer and employees.
What do you think the future holds for ERP software?