The Value of Upgrading ERP: Maintaining Modern Technology
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a mission-critical application that is essential for end-to-end support of an organization. It provides visibility to decision-makers, helps to promote efficiency and collaboration, and provides a complete system of record. As such, these solutions tends to have long lifecycles within organizations; Aberdeen’s research indicates that the average age of an ERP solution in mid-market organizations is over seven years. This makes ERP tools some of the oldest applications – on average – in mid-market companies. This is not always a good thing, as a lot can change in seven years. Businesses may expand, add new product lines, become subject to new regulations, or any number of other business developments. The technology itself may also simply become outdated. Software vendors may introduce new offerings such as mobile or social capabilities, or more modern best practices templates. Oftentimes, optional upgrades to the ERP software introduce these enhancements. Some organizations take advantage of these offerings, while others may choose to forego them. Organizations that do not upgrade their ERP may miss out on new technology that could significantly improve their business. This is why 58% of Best-in-Class midmarket (see definition in sidebar) organizations are implemented on the latest version of their ERP software. The purpose of this report is to identify the reasons that organizations choose to upgrade their ERP as well as the enhanced technology capabilities and benefits that these organizations experience.
The Importance of Staying Current
Every ERP vendor offers upgrades at a different interval, but data collected for Aberdeen’s ERP in the “Midmarket Enabling Functionality and Simplicity to Combat Complexity” finds that the Best-in-Class mid-market organizations are more likely than All Others to accept these upgrades and keep their ERP updated.
To Read More Download the PDF