Research initiative designed to explore and quantify key technology and process requirements for the future of enterprise resource planning

BEND, OR, March 10, 2020 /Neptune100/ — Ventana Research today launched its newest benchmark research initiative, A Generational Change in ERP. Software for enterprise resource planning handles a diverse set of tasks including statutory and management accounting, human resources management, inventory management, sales order management, fixed asset management and logistics management. These systems have been around for so long and are so much a part of people’s jobs that they can fade into the background — until something goes wrong. Ventana Research is investigating how companies use their ERP systems as well as users’ likes and dislikes. Participants’ input will help guide the design of future ERP software.

The enterprise resource planning system is a pillar of nearly every company’s record-keeping and management of business processes. It is essential to the smooth functioning of a business’s accounting and finance functions. Partly because of their centrality, ERP systems have been slow to evolve in the years since they emerged in the 1990s. Indeed, the technologies shaping their design, functions and features were largely stagnant until recently. Now, however, ERP systems have begun to change, facilitated by the growing availability of a wave of new technologies such as cloud computing, collaboration, mobility, analytics, planning, in-memory processing and big data, all of which have the potential to address shortcomings in today’s systems as well as the most common complaints about this software category.

What is uncertain — and what this research will address — is whether companies will continue to view ERP solely as a system for record-keeping or will come to see it as a strategic tool for enterprise resource planning and more effective management of business processes. This research will also explore the value of more active and integrated processes including those that are collaborative and continuous, and it will assess the maturity and performance of the people, processes, analytics, information, software and systems in today’s enterprise.

“For several years Ventana Research has focused on the accelerating pace of technology change affecting the design of ERP systems,” said Robert Kugel, SVP and Research Director. “Then there’s the buzz about “consumerized” business applications — fresher designs that reduce screen clutter and streamline work. But while buzz may be a motivator and a guide, it is not an adequate basis for investment decisions in business system design. And at the moment it’s not clear what preferences users or the executives who will be decision-makers in technology purchases have, whether for consumerized ERP, for more productive user interface design or perhaps for a design that emphasizes collaboration.”

Those interested in learning more about or participating in this benchmark research can do so at https://www.ventanaresearch.com/benchmark/officeoffinance/erp. Ventana Research, a leading business technology research and advisory services firm, provides qualified research participants with an incentive and complementary report, which includes both key insights and best practices from the benchmark research.

About Ventana Research
Ventana Research is the most authoritative and respected benchmark business technology research and advisory services firm. We provide insight and expert guidance on mainstream and disruptive technologies through a unique set of research-based offerings including benchmark research and technology evaluation assessments, education workshops and our research and advisory services, Ventana On-Demand. Our unparalleled understanding of the role of technology in optimizing business processes and performance and our best practices guidance are rooted in our rigorous research-based benchmarking of people, processes, information and technology across business and IT functions in every industry. This benchmark research plus our market coverage and in-depth knowledge of hundreds of technology providers means we can deliver education and expertise to our clients to increase the value they derive from technology investments while reducing time, cost and risk.

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