Future Trends

Future developments in ERP software need to be analyzed in the light of two contexts. The first relates to the enhancement of technical and functional capabilities of the ERP software. Many ERP vendors are positioning themselves as one-stop vendors for all the different functional requirements, and are adding Customer Relationship Management and Supply Chain Management functionalities into their software. This is in response to integration problems that organizations have had, when they have tried to interface different best of breed solutions. A Forrester Report study states that 50 percent of all IT investment is spent in interfacing and ensuring compatibility between different applications. Moreover, ERP packages are now providing web-enabled functionalities and e-business suites for use in B2B and B2C transactions. SAP has launched mySap.com, Baan has a similar product called iBaan, and Oracle has incorporated e-business functionalities into the new generation ERP software called Oracle 11i. Basic ERP packages are expected to serve as the back end database part, to which e-business modules incorporating functions relating to e-procurement, CRM and SCM would be added. Organizations would be challenged to ensure that back end information could be seamlessly accessed by the e-business applications.

The second context that would shape the future of the ERP industry in India is the decreasing cost of ERP solutions. Between 1995 and 2000, most customers have been large companies who are market leaders and with considerable slack resources. As our study has shown, most of the large companies have already implemented ERP. The future market is represented by companies in the in the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) segment. Between 1998 and 2000, a few Indian software companies started providing indigenous ERP solutions, which are less expensive that those of the bigger and more well known companies. One such product, Marshall, designed by a company called Ramco, is popular among the smaller companies.

These two contexts suggest opportunities for future research in the ERP domain. Future research efforts would need to be directed at analyzing ERP adoption as part of an overall framework for adoption of E-business, along with the implementation of other packaged software such as CRM and SCM. Study of ERP adoption by SMEs, and the accompanying specific problems and issues is another area of potential investigation.