Johannesburg, 05 Jun 2018
The ERP has changed a lot. It's no longer a massive, singular application that works exclusively for large enterprises. This used to be its character, because when ERP started emerging during the late eighties, only big companies could afford the investment required for its development.
This defined its reputation for immovability and largesse. Over time it added modules and enveloped other business functions beyond its initial scope. But the ERP continues to evolve, becoming more flexible and available. In a way, ERPs carry the banner of digital transformation: they were among the first major application investments by companies and marked the beginning of technology's central role in modern organisations.
Still, time has made the ERP a sentimental topic, where many practitioners still shun an ERP that isn't monolithic and immovable in its majesty. They regard the new breed of ERPs, post-modern ERPs, as an offshoot, not an evolution. But this is a mistake.
"People think 'post-modern ERP' means cloud," says Bernard Ford, CEO of One Channel. "Cloud can be a part of it. But a post-modern ERP means connected devices, connected people, connected software and connected machines, supported by technologies such as artificial intelligence and IOT."
An old friend with new talents
The post-modern ERP isn't a fork in the road of ERPs. It is the new ERP, taking advantage of modern technologies and adjusting itself to serve the modern workplace. This new breed first surfaced around a decade ago. But since connected services were then still just emerging, these applications were lightweight and far from the tier 1 powerhouses deployed at large companies. Yet, today, the post-modern ERP is perfect for enterprises, said Ford.
"The early adopters were geared to smaller businesses. Yet the technology is the opposite. It's actually geared for very large enterprises, because of its flexible nature. It can scale, be customised with relative ease and is highly receptive to integration with other business systems and services. New ERPs address a lot of the limitations of the more traditional ERP platforms."
As Ford mentions, scale and management are much simpler: a post-modern ERP can expand and contract as a company needs it, with a higher degree of management, reporting and cost control for administrators. Likewise, hefty customisations have become less disruptive thanks to micro-services, allowing developers to tweak parts of the platform without shaking the whole structure.
Even integrations with other systems are much more fluid and in many cases very convenient. For example, if past ERPs needed translation services, it would be an expensive and time-consuming exercise to orchestrate. Today it can be as simple as plugging Google Translate or Bing Translate into the platform. APIs feature prominently in this space and a company with access to a development pool can expand its ERP's functions in impressive and unheard-of ways.
ERP 4.0
But, isn't this all still cloud, far removed from the safe parameter of the company? Not necessarily: though these ERPs are built using cloud methodology (which incorporates features mentioned above around integration and control), cloud exists where you place it. So a post-modern ERP can live happily on-premises, at a co-location data centre or even natively in a hyper-scale environment. They are even more resilient around connectivity: whereas traditional ERPs need heavy-duty networks to maintain performance, post-modern ERPs are designed to handle mobile workforces and a world drastically expanded through connectivity.
The key takeaway here is that the ERP has changed for the better. Post-modern ERPs do all that traditional ERPs could, plus much more; and they are now appealing to companies of any size. The post-modern ERP is the ERP come-of-age in the digital era. A service that was there since the start is now finally taking its rightful place in the Industry 4.0 world.
Indeed, the vendor trends confirm this, Ford explained: "Even the large ERP vendors such as SAP, Oracle and Microsoft have been developing these new platforms. Post-modern ERPs take the concept to its next level and bring it home to the digital era."
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