Most companies are confident in their ability to navigate the early stages of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) purchase process, but many say they need more support when it comes to implementing a system and with ongoing service requirements.
That’s according to a recent survey from business software provider Epicor. The company polled more than 1,300 ERP users in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand to learn what companies want and expect from ERP providers, especially in light of an expanding technology environment and the growth of cloud-computing options. The 2022 Epicor Industry Insights Report found that 96% of organizations are confident in their ability to navigate the early phases of ERP exploration—from initial evaluation to requirements planning—but nearly half cited a strong need for more support and partnership from ERP providers during the latter stages of the purchase journey as a way to ease migration and realize faster time-to-value. The latter phases include implementation, go-live, and ongoing customer care. “Companies are setting a higher bar for their ERP providers to deliver on more than just the technology itself,” Epicor's CEO Steve Murphy said in a press release. “Our annual study shows that customers want a provider that can not only tailor their solution to the industry-specific needs that fit the customer’s business, but also collaborate closely throughout the entire purchase journey to provide transparency, strengthen onboarding and training, ensure dedicated support teams, and ultimately help realize meaningful business value. To do that, the ERP provider can’t just be a software expert, they must also act as a committed partner.” The survey also asked ERP users about the state of the cloud and vendor loyalty. More than 80% of respondents said they are operating in a hybrid cloud environment—a mixed computing, storage, and services environment made up of on-premises infrastructure, private cloud services, and a public cloud—with 46% saying they are either primarily or entirely in the cloud, slightly up from the results of Epicor’s 2021 survey. A full 90% of respondents said their move to the cloud was “worth the effort,” saying they realized a variety of benefits, such as improved flexibility and adaptability, better security, simple regulatory compliance, and enhanced business resistance. Nearly 90% of those using cloud solutions said they felt loyal to their current ERP vendor, but nearly half of those surveyed said they actively consider moving to a new ERP solution every one to three years—in part because of industry innovation and rapid digital transformation that is delivering a proliferation of new technologies.
