In his famous article IT Doesn't Matter, Nicholas G. Carr "examine[s] the evolution of information technology in business and show[s] that it follows a pattern strikingly similar to that of earlier technologies like railroads and electric power"[2] . It is true that IT is commoditized and becoming a necessity for today's companies. ERP is not an exception. A decade ago, limited knowledge of SAP might not have hindered a person from starting a career in ERP consulting, but nowadays, the bar has been raised to a much higher level. The massive adoption of ERP makes it an indispensable part in the business environment—and ERP knowledge is no longer limited to a small pool of professionals.
Following the commoditization of IT and standardization of business processes, the halo of ERP may fade out if the industry can't add new elements to it. The prosperity of business intelligence (BI) is a recent example that ERP is moving with market needs. Generally speaking, as long as the industry can always stay on the edge of using IT for better business operation and performance, this ecosystem will exist; but one has to be aware that everything has a life span and that commoditization implies it has reached a stage of maturity.
There are also external factors that threaten the traditional ERP business model. The first is open source ERP. Developers such as ComPiere and Openbravo represent a new business model in which collecting license fees might no longer be developers' strongest approach towards profitability. This new model may impose significant impact on the technology source in the ERP ecosystem: the vendors.
Another threat comes from the prosperity of web applications. When business processes become more standardized, browser applications will be able to move to more sophisticated areas. For example, founded in 1999 by former Oracle executive Marc Benioff, SalesForce.com (an on-demand CRM solution vendor) went public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in June 2004. The company, according to its web site, has its services translated into 15 different languages and currently has over 43,600 customers and 1,000,000 subscribers. Within the web application model, to what extent consulting services can be involved becomes a question.
Exposed to these challenges, the landscape of the ERP ecosystem may change. Either the vendors or the consulting services may experience significant consequences, and conflict between players may arise if the trends keep growing stronger.
Following the commoditization of IT and standardization of business processes, the halo of ERP may fade out if the industry can't add new elements to it. The prosperity of business intelligence (BI) is a recent example that ERP is moving with market needs. Generally speaking, as long as the industry can always stay on the edge of using IT for better business operation and performance, this ecosystem will exist; but one has to be aware that everything has a life span and that commoditization implies it has reached a stage of maturity.
There are also external factors that threaten the traditional ERP business model. The first is open source ERP. Developers such as ComPiere and Openbravo represent a new business model in which collecting license fees might no longer be developers' strongest approach towards profitability. This new model may impose significant impact on the technology source in the ERP ecosystem: the vendors.
Another threat comes from the prosperity of web applications. When business processes become more standardized, browser applications will be able to move to more sophisticated areas. For example, founded in 1999 by former Oracle executive Marc Benioff, SalesForce.com (an on-demand CRM solution vendor) went public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in June 2004. The company, according to its web site, has its services translated into 15 different languages and currently has over 43,600 customers and 1,000,000 subscribers. Within the web application model, to what extent consulting services can be involved becomes a question.
Exposed to these challenges, the landscape of the ERP ecosystem may change. Either the vendors or the consulting services may experience significant consequences, and conflict between players may arise if the trends keep growing stronger.
Jack
Said
thnx
Tani
Said
The evolution of information technology in business and shows that it follows a pattern strikingly similar to that of earlier technologies like railroads and electric power.
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