A new market has been identified by Gartner and adopted by enterprise resource planning (ERP) vendors looking for a new business model to continue the growth they enjoyed in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Slugged ERP II, the "new" ERP conceptually embraces not only internal processes, but extends down the supply chain, up to the customer, and beyond.
Outlining this new model at its Lanzarote press conference on the Canary Islands, ERP vendor JD Edwards defined this new market as collaborative commerce, as the model requires the ability to connect to disparate customer and supplier systems through open standards like XML, COM and Corba.
True ERP II will allow enterprise to see beyond the supplier and customer to the supplier's supplier and the customer's customer, allowing them to better predict both supply and demand. "Part of [external collaboration] is the ability to see things before they happen," said Travis White, JD Edwards VP, EMEA marketing.
However, SA could be slow to adopt new ERP strategies. According to Trevor Allman, group IT executive of USABCO (SA`s largest plastic houseware manufacturer and distributor), the retailers in the local market dictate the terms for such technology roll-outs, and until they are ready, ERP II will be slow in adoption. "Our customers and suppliers will dictate our speed," said Allman, adding: "ERP is essential."
JD Edwards` interoperability is termed XSI, or extended process integration, and with XML technologies provided by the likes of Netfish, JD Edwards` OneWorld XE ERP suite uses XML-based standards to interoperate between modules within the ERP application, as well as with third-party enterprise solutions like customer relationship management and supply chain management systems.
"Interoperability nowadays is a very critical part of enterprise software, both within and beyond the enterprise," said Andrew Moore, director, JD Edwards Collaborative Solutions.
Gartner has identified JD Edwards as the visionary leader in the ERP II space, while competitor SAP has been rated ahead in execution. To date, the market does not have a clear leader, although the jostling for the top position has clearly begun.
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