5 ERP Trends for 2021

Today Enterprise and resource planning software solutions have been used by most businesses all across the world. The ERP solutions have evolved from being simple management solutions to a complete business management tool with the full-fledged functionality of business operations. Today we have sector-specific ERP tools for industries to ERP solutions that can be used in any form of business with its capability to be flexed to be sustainable to any form of business. Open Source ERP software is another category of ERP software that is rising in popularity in the market and we now have various solutions offering the open-sourced architecture on ERPs.

With the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, the business operations were shut down as the spread of the virus was getting out of hand in the early months of last year. With more than one year of the pandemic passing, we still have fully recovered from the impact however, the business operations have started to pace up and are getting back to operations. With the new operational parameters of operations in the pandemic, most of the business had to shift to the new normal. Newer operational parameters and strategies were adopted along with high percentage changes in the financial aspects of the companies, almost all employees shifting to a work from a home scenario where some were affected by the pandemic in the business establishments all across the world.

Now in the year 2021, almost over a year after the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic business operations have accepted the new normal and have embraced the challenges in which they have to function. Enterprise and resource planning software solutions were helpful for various businesses as they helped them to function with the new strategies of operations due to the pandemic. Moreover, there have been various trends among the ERP software and the community of people who use it and develop it.

With this blog, I'm going to explain the top 5 ERP trends that are ongoing in 2021 and can expect throughout this year

Before moving on to understanding the ERP trends in 2021 let's initially understand certain statistics on ERP software solutions. As per the recent studies it's been expected that the ERP market is gonna grow up to 40 billion USD by 2025, these are described after the repercussions of the pandemic. The involvement of Artificial Intelligence, as well as machine learning, can be seen to be increasing to higher percentages in the operations of ERPs. Today most of the ERP software solutions have adapted to the remote working functionality due to the history of the pandemic and it's more likely that most of the businesses are to continue so and have been welcoming to the models. Let's now move onto understanding certain trends in ERP software in the year 2021.

A surge of Cloud ERP Softwares

In the earlier days of the establishment of the Cloud-based solutions, most of the businesses were not entirely sure and they were hesitant on migrating to a cloud-based ERP software solution. However, the trend has been entirely changed today. There has been a sudden surge in the user numbers of cloud-based ERPs as they are taking the advantage of user-friendly aspects, cost-efficient solutions, and easy implementation of the solutions. Furthermore, the capability to update the software with ease and add new functionalized provided by the software developers has also been one of the beneficial advantages of using cloud-based ERPs

Two levels of ERPs

In the earlier days, the ERP software was used as a single entirety for the operations of all the branches of a company; however, now the trend has changed to multi-layer ERP software in operations. This is mainly due to the operational capability and functional options that the multi-layer model brings in. With the multi-layer model, you will have a dual ERP software, one entirely dedicated for the head office operations and another subsidiary for the respective branches. This approach in ERP management is beneficial for the entire company as it is cost-efficient and is easy to develop and implement. Furthermore, the subsidiaries which are functioning in the branches of the companies are provided with more functional tools of operation.

Digitalization of operations

Today more and more businesses are trying to be transformed to be digital operations terminologies moving towards a paperless operations office. Moreover, most of the functioning of a business is integrated to be functioning digitally in operations. ERP solutions that are available today are completely transforming the business solution to a digitalized operation with the involvement of smart gadgets and scenes to control the functionality. Furthermore, the use of technologies such as IoT, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine learning will help your company operations to transform into digitized operations with an ERP.

Integration of other technological solutions with ERP

For specified operation in a company the ERP software will not be having dedicated tools therefore, businesses are integrating the ERP software with other technological solutions which will help run the option. Moreover, most of the ERP solutions that are available today support third-party applications and software integration. However certain operational software such as Customer relationship management tools are vital needs of business and certain ERPs don't have the tools inbuilt unlike Odoo which has a dedicated Odoo CRM module that you can use for the customer relationships management operation.

Remote accessibility

As the world has shifted to a new normal due to the impact of the pandemic most of the employees under a business started to work from their homes. Therefore, businesses were looking for ERP solutions that can be operated remotely. This resulted in the surge and demand for cloud-based ERP solutions. Another aspect that the business executives looked up is the mobile accessibility of the ERP through smart gadgets which will be helpful for the field-based operations as well as remote manageability. Best ERP Software that is valuable today has mobile operational functionality.

The transition of the ERP solutions to cloud-based operations will transform the operational capabilities and functionality of the business. Furthermore, with the integration of advanced technologies such as IoT, AI, and machine learning the business operations will be taken to the next level by ERP software solutions. In anyways it is for sure that the business operations with the ERP solutions are moving towards even more reliability and effectiveness in functioning.