ERP Goes Mainstream

There was a time when Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) was yet another new
buzzword, which seemed to crop up with unfailing regularity in the IT industry.
This was just about three to four years ago. It took a lot of time for people to
understand what ERP actually meant and what its benefits were.

Prior to this buzzword, Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP) was pretty
popular in the market with a host of companies-both Indian as well as foreign-offering
solutions. However, these solutions were

by and large restricted to the manufacturing industry.

But the advent of ERP changed all that. A host of vendors offered solutions
for almost any kind of industry. Even then, in the beginning, the common
perception was that ERP solutions were basically meant for the manufacturing
sector.

Solution providers had to work really hard to dispel this perception. And
here, the role played by SAP has been exemplary. It has done much more than any
other vendor to popularize not only ERP as a concept, but also to instill the
knowledge that it is meant for anybody and everybody. The company was well
supported by some others like Baan.

At the same time, SAP did not do enough to counter another perception that
implementing ERP solution within the organization is extremely tough and time
consuming. Lot of customers dithered in going in for ERP as they were under the
impression that the implementation would take a lot of time and money, besides
turning the entire organization upside down.

However, today ERP is everywhere and there are a number of vendors who are
offering solutions from the top to the bottom of the pyramid. At the top end,
the pack is led by SAP, Baan, Oracle, Peoplesoft etc. In the middle are vendors
like Ramco Systems.

But the most interesting scenario is at the bottom end where lot of
indigenous local vendors have sprung up with their own version of ERP solutions,
which are very cost-effective and easy to implement. Solution providers like
Visesh Infotecnics, Eastern Software, and Radix Software would fall in this
group. All these are by and large focusing on the SME segment, which is growing
much faster than the industry average.

Although these local players haven't had great successes yet, it is only a
matter of time before they do. The reason is simple. SMEs are now seeing the
kind of benefits an ERP solution can bring into their organizations. It can be
safely said that the sky is the limit for these players.

Asim Raina