Can we imagine a Free ERP system where users can raise Purchase / Sales Orders like they do in a few clicks on Amazon / Flipkart with all the required details visible on a single page?
In today’s era of Digitization, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems have been the first steps of any organization on its way towards becoming a Technology based enterprise. It has served its first purpose of making the organizations paperless. The seamless integration of ERP with multiple systems has been the basis of architecture of all the organizations. Nowadays it is not very uncommon in very big organizations to see the Cloud based ERP system at the core with other 40/45 client facing applications compared to the earlier robust on premise ERP systems with a lot of customized programs.
Companies like SAP, Oracle (EBS, JDE, Siebel), Baan (Infor), IFS have been in the market since decades and cloud based organizations like Salesforce, Workday, Microsoft etc. have changed the dynamics and cost for the customers drastically. Implementation times that were years for on premise solution has come down to days with cloud based systems and automations. Investment costs have come from large infrastructures to user based subscriptions and maintenance costs have reduced drastically.
At the same time, the futuristic systems are moving to further add the in-built Analytics and integration frameworks for AI & IOT based algorithms. Earlier the majority of the revenue of the IT services came from building the robust custom developments for the ERP systems, building peripheral applications and analytics for the same.
Recently the focus of the demand from customers is changing from these custom developments to the new edge developments like RPAs, Chatbots, AI / ML based Analytics and IOT / Blockchain based platforms. All the Technology companies are focused on this future and the ERP companies like SAP / Oracle / Microsoft / Salesforce need to think about their business model.
Basic ERP transactions like purchasing, Order Management, Inventory Management & CRM has become very user friendly and convenient on other platforms like Ecommerce websites like Amazon, Flipkart and ebay. Google & Microsoft has provided so many applications that basic EPR systems can be developed at nominal costs on platforms like android.
Wouldn’t it be revolutionary for all the startups and SMEs if Google / Microsoft can provide the basic ERP with “Free of Cost” and charge them for additional services like
Analytics & Advanced report
Complex / Industry specific processes (e.g. Chemical / Process mfg.)
Localizations & Tax configurations
AI / ML & IOT Plugins / API / Algorithms etc
Blockchain solutions
PaaS / IaaS requirement from clients
Advertisements from the screen
Maintenance / Upgrades
On-premise / Private Cloud solutions
Advance securities
Users beyond a limit (For large Industries)
Shipping / Logistic solutions by partners
Users of these SMEs / Startups won’t mind to see some ads while punching some POs or Sales Orders! Moreover they may also navigate to explore / browse the purchase options from these Adds :)
ERP systems have become as essential as that of emails / Whatsapp / Messenger / Online meeting solutions and most of these come Free or at nominal cost. This savings in technology will help all small companies to move to a new level of digitization with more focus on End Customer requirements than managing internal operations.
