When ERP systems were first invented, numerous organizations took the plunge and implemented. Over time, new solutions have emerged and others abandoned. Today, CIOs worldwide recognize the relevance of modern day ERP systems and believe that they are the main driver for creating competitive advantage. However, factors such as considerable capital investment and the implementation time pose as a hindrance in adopting a new ERP system. Despite these considerations, an outdated ERP system is not only detrimental to your business, but also harms your position in the industry.

1. Growth: The unprecedented development of technology and business has influenced every facet of computing systems across organizations. Enterprises today are inundated with changes in the technological, industrial, and regulatory spheres. They are in need of systems with B2B and B2C features such as ecommerce and dealer management to streamline and fasten the supply chain management (SCM) process. Simultaneously, business environments have become increasingly complex, necessitating extreme interoperability between systems and smooth flow of data for timely and efficient operations and improved decision making. Legacy ERP systems consist of highly disparate modules that restrict this flow of data, thereby limiting organizational growth.
2. Innovation: In order to stay ahead of competition, organizations are restructuring their business and reassessing their strategies continuously. They are investing huge capital in modernizing business processes so as to keep pace with industry fluctuations. Organizations are looking at modern technologies like business intelligence (BI) to deliver accurate and real-time analytics to management for better decision making and strategy planning. Additionally, hybrid production control activities like discrete, lean manufacturing and process manufacturing are required for making business processes efficient. Outdated ERP systems are no longer supported by their vendors, forcing enterprises to redirect critical business resources into their maintenance and upkeep. Also, old ERP systems do not provision current business prerequisites like BI or big data, limiting enterprises from focusing on innovation and transformation.
3. Collaboration: With organizations expanding their operations to various product lines, services, and locations, they are looking for systems with multi location and language handling capabilities to manage multiple legal business units across different demographics within the same instance. Business user reporting capabilities are being sought in order to augment the decision making process. Moreover, technologies like cloud and the Internet of Things (IoT) are transforming how the business world connects; but out-of-date ERP systems hamper collaboration between various entities. Legacy ERP systems were not designed to be connected across multiple stakeholders. Expensive integrations and third-party applications are required to be installed for such systems to be in-sync with businesses.
4. Mobility: Along with employees, organizations as a whole are also becoming increasingly mobile. In order to achieve success, businesses are looking to attain dexterity and flexibility in their business structure. Businesses are running their operations with multiple departments spread across multiple locations; they require their systems to have mobile capabilities for their warehouse, field-sales and services teams. But old ERP systems do not have mobility capabilities; they do not integrate these spaced entities thereby hampering decentralization of business.
5. Employee Satisfaction: With every industry facing intense competition, organizations are undergoing radical transformations. Massive technological advances have made employees’ jobs easier in all spheres of work, but an outdated ERP bogs them down. Old ERP systems were built with limited computing resources and possess interfaces which are not only difficult to use but are also slow and inflexible. There is limited access to information, causing frustration and displeasure among decision makers. Today’s dynamic business needs have outgrown ERP capabilities, leading to a dissatisfied, unproductive workforce. 

Conclusion

In order to stay agile and prepare for the future, it is vital for businesses to shift to modern ERP systems. ERP systems in today’s market possess several powerful features like BI and big data, and can be offered to customers either on-premise or over the cloud. Cloud-based ERP systems offer several benefits like automated upgrades, enterprise-scale security, lower cost of deployment, extreme scalability, and flexibility. Cloud based ERP systems continuously align with your operating environment ensuring your business is up-to-date thereby creating true competitive advantage. 

Do you think it’s time to have a modern ERP?