1.
CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT
One of the more important trends to recognize is the power the customer now has to influence ERP strategy. Due to the blossoming use of mobile devices the ability of the consumer to understand, measure and distribute information across social media groups means all ERP systems will have to consider the customer first and be able to modify procedures to fit with what the customer requires.
2.
CLOUD ADOPTION
ERP vendors are generally slower than other portions of the software industry at adopting newer technologies due to the complexity of the applications. But the growth and stability/ reliability of cloud vendors such as Amazon Web Services, Rack Space, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Google and others are enabling ERP vendors to look to the cloud to decide how best to use this new and exciting addition to the IT landscape and deliver true Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions.
3.
USER EXPERIENCE
In the past ERP applications were created to enhance the capture of transactional data using featureless character based user interfaces. Today, ERP applications have arrived at a crossroads. Vendors now engage with UX (user experience) Engineers to give the user rich graphical features that enhance user involvement and provide business intelligence (BI), and collaborative displays that facilitate intelligent business decisions and up to the minute customer relations. The emphasis is on providing operational and strategic conclusions rather than just capturing the data. This enables the ERP vendor to be a true business partner with the user of the application.
4.
KARMAK’S PERSPECTIVE ON ERP
At Karmak we are striving to stay ahead of the curve, with mobile offerings such as Deliver-It and Attach-It. The Strategic Partnership that Karmak has with Microsoft is allowing Karmak to fully test our product in Microsoft’s Cloud to ensure stability. And our newest software offering of Karmak Fusion® brings together the latest in User Experience and Business Intelligence to provide our customers with their critical business data to enable them to make strategic business decisions.