Rethinking IT Services for SaaS ERP and CRM, Part 2: A vision for the future

Software as a Service (SaaS) is revolutionary because it offers a radically easier way to access critical enterprise software capabilities. Traditional perpetual licenses were costly and, let's be honest, who really wants an expensive, quickly depreciating asset anyway? What companies really want is to "consume" software capabilities. SaaS aligns the economics of enterprise software with the value proposition. Now consulting firms will be called upon to align their value propositions with the market.

Earlier I wrote that SaaS triggered a dramatic shift in customer expectations: our stuff just needs to work predictably and improve the way organizations operate. I would go even further and suggest another important shift: enterprise software is increasingly seen as basic technology infrastructure to run the business, not a significant source of competitive advantage. Before businesses of all kinds became "digital business", a well-implemented enterprise ERP and CRM system could give your company an edge over the competition in terms of responsiveness to customer inquiries or sales opportunities, time-to-market, anticipating demand, managing the supply chain, or gaining key insights into business performance. Any of those things and more could have meant significant leverage over the competition.

Today there are an unimaginable number of creative and ingenious ways that businesses are using data and IT technology for strategic advantage. ERP and CRM systems represent necessary core operational infrastructure that companies need just to play the game. They are table stakes. In the digital world, even the smallest companies need robust IT capabilities to do business at all. ERP and CRM systems are now the IT backbone that support a wide range ...