2012 is nearing its end, and as usual it’s time to analyze the past and give a longing gaze into the future. For the enterprise software market, opinions were sought from industry analysts on what the future holds for this particular market.
In the ERP forecast, it was revealed that where customers’ comfort is concerned, cloud-based ERP could grow significantly next year.
For the market watchers, their eye will be on whether Workday will taste the same success by winning mega-deals with its newer financials module as it did with HCM (human capital management). Along with the customers of Infor and Epicor, Microsoft’s Dynamics ERP product lines shall also get additional cloud deployment options. For the likes of Plex and Kenandy, which specialize in cloud-based ERP for manufacturers, more attention can be expected. In the mean time, Oracle and SAP will be hoping to oppose the overall competition with their own cloud modules.
There are shortage of choices for both current and upcoming for cloud ERP, and thus the real question arises that whether the customers will vote en masse with their wallets.
Salesforce.com will move further into ERP: Though it has evolved from being a a cloud CRM (customer relationship management) software vendor into a full-blown platform player, Salesforce.com is yet to push itself aggressively into ERP (enterprise resource planning) software on its own. It’s still preferring to work with partners such as Workday and Infor.
While introducing Work.com, a human resources application for managing employee performance, Salesforce.com has taken one small step in the direction of ERP. But Work.com can easily be added to the outlines of a customer’s software landscape, against replacing a rival product.
It’s not clear if Salesforce.com will develop a robust ERP suite on its own or acquire a vendor who already owns it. But next year, the company is expected to make some move, even if it’s just a strengthening of partner relations. ERP currently forms a major part of the IT budget and Salesforce.com will be definitely looking for a bigger slice.
To read the rest of the predictions, click here.
