A company's responsibility to keep up-to-date with ERP, and 4 principles for change

Implementing a new ERP system can be a lengthy process. In the time an organization takes to progress from discovery to go-live, the ERP solution could already be nearing obsolescence.

User companies will typically notice this situation when ISV solution providers start looking forward to the next generation of ERP, with plans for fantastic improvements to their products - but only in the new release.

Because of the rapid pace of product development by ERP vendors, it becomes the responsibility of the end users to stay current with the ERP solutions of their choice. For those coming off an implementation, this sounds like a nightmare. The big question becomes, "Why can't we just stay on this system until we HAVE to upgrade?" Seems like a legitimate question. If it's working for your company, you can easily use it for several years before moving on to the next generation of ERP. However, in order to have a technological advantage on your competitors and position your team for simpler upgrades in the future, it becomes necessary to stay as close to the newest version as possible. In this article, I will touch on some reasons why it is important to stay on top of the upgrade cycle.

The customer's role

ERP implementations and upgrades are expensive, can take a lot of time, and cause a lot of grumbling, moaning, and groaning. That pain is real, and it explains why so many organizations choose to wait three, five, or even ten years before ERP updates. Not only must customers now take on the responsibility to stay current with new technology trends in ERP such as PowerApps, Power BI, Flow, and the Common Data Service, but they have to bring their employees along for the ...