2011 Readers' Choice: Enterprise Resource Planning
It has not been a big year for ERP with companies keeping spend in this category fairly tight. With so little change, the results of this list are exactly the same as last year, and IDC Manufacturing Insights and IDC Retail Insights Group Vice President Bob Parker is not surprised.CGT: As the economy improves, will activity in this market pick up?
Parker: We are seeing some interest in this market, but it’s not necessarily the same buying process or decision criteria we would have seen five years ago. The key criteria is better business performance, not better bookkeeping. And keeping IT-related costs to a minimum will be increasingly relevant to this category, so more companies are exploring new delivery mechanisms, new infrastructures and new platforms for ERP, all with an eye on minimizing the total investment and getting to business benefits faster and more easily.
CGT: What trends in this area will impact the CG industry?
Parker: Some of the trends we identified last year are ongoing, including more virtualization and cloud-based ERP, as well as integrated analytics. Mobile access is also an increasing trend, though sometimes the interest here is more hype than reality-driven. We caution companies to be practical in their adoption of mobile devices and apps.
CGT: How can ERP providers position products to be more desirable to CG companies that are looking to get more out of existing investments?
Parker: I think the big push from the vendors will be to get users up on to the latest versions. Quite a few companies postponed their updates over the last couple years, and we are expecting some pent up demand for the new features and functionality, but as long as it comes with clear business benefits. Business Intelligence will continue to be a priority, especially as it relates to the customer experience. In addition, mobility-based application extensions will be of interest. Vertical industry-specific capabilities, like Oracle/JDE for Food Processing or Apparel, will also play a role in adoption — and it isn’t just transactions but the industry-specific analytics that will drive adoption. Lastly, there will be a group of companies who will want to deliver ERP to their organization on top of a private cloud infrastructure so that “virtual instances” can be provisioned. For example, the Wal-Mart team at a large consumer goods company may have its own virtual instance that accommodates Wal-Mart-specific processes while staying true to corporate information standards.
BREAKOUT FAVORITES
Customer Experience: Lawson
“Working with Lawson, we’ve been able to improve and enhance a number of core business processes around customer order processing, matching supply with demand and financial analysis, to name a few.” -- Peg Nicholson, SVP & CIO, Acushnet Company
SMB Market: Oracle
“In the last 10 years, Oracle has been a trusted advisor and an enterprise application platform provider that has truly enabled the growth of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc.” -- Rod Ely, Director of Enterprise Applications, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc.