ERP customers today are aware of the necessary evils of customizing their legacy ERP. Customizations are required to support their unique way of doing business, but each new line of custom code added to the ERP makes it less flexible and more expensive to maintain.
According to Brent DiBartolo, SVP of Marketing and Revenue Operations, Nextworld, those who remain with their legacy ERP are looking for ways to continue to innovate while extending the life of the investment of their current system. On the other hand, many are realizing the oftentimes unfulfilled promise of the “out-of-the-box” ERP offering they have adopted, especially given the increasing pressure for competitive differentiation through adopting new technology.
The current reality
Thus, the current options available to ERP users have three essential drawbacks DiBartolo and Andy Pulling, Senior Solutions Engineer, Nextworld, highlighted during an ERP Today webinar:
- The current systems discourage or don’t allow customizations
- Customization can lead to increased costs for support resources and maintenance
- The first two factors lead to a growing number of disconnected systems and data
But are these the only two options available to ERP users today? There is a third option now: A clean ERP method that encourages a standard approach to core systems while leveraging an enterprise applications platform as a system of action and customization.
The rise of no-code/low-code platforms
Modern business platforms use no-code or low-code development and are composed of software needed to operate, manage, extend, integrate, and build enterprise applications. As a result, platforms provide increased customization potential, cost savings and efficiencies while raising productivity.
Pulling indicated that app development using no-code/low-code platforms takes 90% less time. He added that 91% of companies are already incorporating or currently considering integration of no-code/ low-code technologies, while 75% of large enterprises use at least four no-code/low-code development tools.
By taking advantage of no-code development to build custom apps and workflows on a platform, ERP users no longer rely on cumbersome customizations in their ERP. As a result, the clean ERP is more agile, easier to use, and costs less to maintain.
A platform can be used as a blank slate to create an organization’s applications, such as replacing spreadsheets, recreating some of the functionality of certain software, and being able to incorporate things like security and compliance. Best-in-class platforms also come with a set of standard applications to support specific business needs, which can be used as-is or customized by end users.
Supporting specific business needs
Nextworld’s enterprise platform allows customers to take part of, or all the applications available and customize them according to their needs. Alternatively, they can use the platform to develop entirely new or innovative applications for their business. Some real-life examples of how ERP users can benefit from the customizations that modern platforms offer are:
- By building a custom app on a no-code platform, an organization can eliminate enterprise-wide spreadsheets, replacing manual work and data silos with automated workflows and auditing controls.
- A modern platform also allows an organization to replace under-utilized point solutions with an all-in-one, centralized technology hub.
- A platform brings together diverse data from across an enterprise, which is especially useful for activities like financial consolidation.
- On the mobility side of the business, a platform can help organizations that may have more than one ERP system to gain singular visibility of a data subset, such as inventory controls, from anywhere.
Emerging platforms can, therefore, help companies capture their most unique business processes while keeping their ERP and other core applications standard and avoiding the challenges and costs of ERP customization, thereby giving a better return on their ERP investment.
