ERP Advisors Group

Workday announced results for the fiscal 2024 second quarter ended July 31, 2023. Planful announced continued revenue growth and profitability, fueled by customer base growth and expansion of use case adoption within the base. Blackbaud announced an AI development for JustGiving, a global platform for online giving. Salesforce then announced new AI-powered Field Service innovations to help organizations across industries streamline field operations, increase productivity, and drive revenue while delivering trusted customer experiences. IFS announced that Tech Mahindra is now the exclusive distributor of IFS solutions in India, including the IFS Cloud platform which delivers intelligence and automation across FSM, ERP, and EAM. Sage confirmed that its near-term greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative, or SBTi. Oracle rounded out the week by announcing their recognition as a founding member of CancerX, a public-private partnership formed to drive innovations that can help reduce deaths due to cancer.

Having the right leadership and a structural plan in place is vital to ensure the success of your ERP project. Improperly staffing your team will lead to project failure and significant loss of both time and resources, so don’t leave your structural plan to chance, contact an expert ERP consultant today!

Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions have transformed the way employers interact with their employees, allowing companies to take Human Resources to the next level of increased productivity and engagement for end users and administrators alike. The best HCM software can propel your business forward into a new era of business value, but how can you identify the right product for your organization? Join ERP Advisors Group where ERP expert Shawn Windle will explore the business opportunities made possible through HCM software.

Oracle announced Oracle Compute Cloud@Customer, a rack-scale cloud infrastructure enabling organizations to use Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) compute services anywhere. NetSuite is the most recent vendor to extend its data center footprint into other global regions with its announcement that it is now running in OCI cloud regions in Toronto and Montreal. Microsoft followed the trend, announcing that Epic clients can now use Microsoft Azure Large Instances, a solution designed to achieve the scale needed to run the large Epic electronic health record (EHR) database – up to 50 million database accesses per second.

Certinia announced the general availability of its Summer 2023 product release. Microsoft introduced Copilot in Dynamics 365 Field Service, bringing the power of next-generation AI to service professionals on the frontline to speed time to resolution. Aptean followed the growth and enhancement trend, making two major acquisitions of Best Practice IT Solution GmbH and trend SWM.

Data migration is a complicated process, requiring dedication and expertise to successfully navigate the technical aspects. Without clean, transformed data, an ERP implementation will be doomed to fail before it really even begins. In this episode of The ERP Advisor, ERP experts, Shawn Windle and Quentin DeWitt, took a deep dive into the nuances of data migration, discussing how businesses can ensure the success of their projects by applying data migration best practices.

Blackbaud announced financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2023. Then, IFS announced its financial results for the first half of 2023 ending June 30th, 2023. Finally, Amazon.com, Inc. announced financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2023.

Microsoft announced results for the quarter ended June 30, 2023, as compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year. ServiceNow reported its second-quarter 2023 financial results for the period ended June 30, 2023. In related financial investments, Haveli Investments, L.P., a technology-focused private equity firm, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Certinia. Planful announced that Postal, a global offline engagement platform, has joined Planful’s partner network. Blackbaud then refreshed its Blackbaud Partner Network, which will deliver shared value for partners, customers, and the company.

The substantial growth in the ERP space continues this week, with SAP announcing their financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023. ECI announced the launch of Spruce eCommerce, an e-commerce solution purpose-built for the unique needs of lumber and building materials (LBM) and hardlines businesses. Are you evaluating the need for an eCommerce solution? ERP Advisors Group has dedicated the Summer of 2023 to evaluating best-of-breed solutions on the market and recently published the article “Unlock the Power of E-Commerce to Enhance Your ERP” which can be found at https://www.erpadvisorsgroup.com/blog/e-commerce-to-enhance-your-erp

Blackbaud announced the newest cohort of participants in its Social Good Startup Program. In other news, the ERP market continues to grow substantially, as demonstrated in recent financial results from OneStream for the second quarter ending June 30, 2023. Finally, Workday introduced the next generation of its patented Elastic Hypercube Technology (EHT), the intelligent modeling engine that powers Workday Adaptive Planning.

Manufacturing companies have unique operations that may require resources beyond the offerings of a standard Manufacturing ERP. Many businesses need best-of-breed manufacturing software solutions, whether MRP or MES offerings, to solve their organization’s pain points, including manual tracking and reporting on material movement, disjointed communication surrounding engineering designs, revisions, BOMs, and an overall lack of industry best practices baked into operations. In this episode of The ERP Advisor, Shawn Windle will assist manufacturing companies in uncovering their needs to answer the age-old question: why would our business need an MRP versus an ERP?

All ERP vendors are looking for ways to innovate and provide deeper functionality to previously underserved markets with many looking to benefit the SMB space. Sage has followed this trend, announcing that US customers who are looking to implement Sage Intacct will now have first-time access to the technology on AWS. Speaking of ways to encourage growth and a greater sense of community, Infor announced that it has joined the Catena-X initiative. Finally, Deltek announced that it has developed the GovWin IQ Small Business Resource Center curated specifically to support the thousands of small businesses looking for ways to find and win more government contracting opportunities with limited resources.

The news is once again flooded with artificial intelligence announcements, including Oracle, Microsoft, and Salesforce releases. Aptean announced it has completed the acquisition of Affinitus Group, a provider of cloud-based enterprise resource planning solutions built to support the specific needs of fresh produce, food service, bakery, meat, dairy, and agricultural organizations. IBM announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Vista Equity Partners to purchase Apptio Inc., a provider of financial and operational IT management and optimization (FinOps) software, for $4.6 billion.

Artificial intelligence continues to take the ERP industry by storm, as Qlik debuted a suite of OpenAI connectors that will help customers seamlessly and securely bring Generate AI content into Qlik to support a wide range of cloud analytics and automation use cases. Salesforce followed suit with the release of new innovations including Consumer Goods Cloud for Service, Trade Promotion Effectiveness dashboards, and Mulesoft Direct for Consumer Goods. Aside from technological advancements, vendors continue to invest in preexisting solutions to extend their technology stacks and deliver great value to clients. A clear example was IFS’ acquisition of Poka, Inc., the Quebec-based provider of a connected worker platform. Oracle also extended its offerings with the opening of its new EU Sovereign Cloud to help private and public sector organizations across the European Union gain more control over data privacy and sovereignty requirements.

E-commerce is much more than a virtual shopping cart – it can be a multi-channel solution that resolves complex pain points across the company or a best-of-breed solution nightmare that creates silos of data across many software applications. For many businesses, eCommerce solutions play an essential role in managing multiple selling channels to provide tailored shopping experiences to consumers, business customers, vendors, and employees. In this episode of The ERP Advisor, Shawn Windle will be joined by special guest, Shiloh Pettyjohn, Chief Experience Officer & Co-Founder of Web Studios West, to discuss the art of transforming your business with a well-crafted e-commerce solution.

Oracle released its fiscal 2023 Q4 and full-year results. The continued growth within the cloud ERP space has driven leadership changes at Workday, with the appointment of Emma Chalwin as the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), effective July 17th, 2023. Salesforce's release of a new Mobile App Plus: Offline Access solution to help mobile employees improve their productivity and access data from across Salesforce’s Customer 360 – including in areas with limited or no internet connectivity.

The erp space has been turbulent following recent layoffs, negatively impacting many employed within the technology consulting industry. It can be difficult to navigate these confusing market trends and cut through the clutter to take the right steps toward your next consulting position.

Salesforce and Google Cloud announced an expanded strategic partnership to help businesses utilize data and AI to deliver more personalized customer experiences, better understand customer behavior, and run more effective campaigns at a lower cost across marketing, sales, service, and commerce. UKG reached an agreement to acquire Immedis, a global payroll provider with technology and services supporting over 160 countries. Deltek announced the newest version of its ERP for government contractors, Costpoint, adding enhanced functionality, new innovative features, and a forward-thinking design, specifically built for managing government contracts and operations.

Salesforce announced financial results for its first quarter of fiscal 2024 ended April 30, 2023. Aptean announced its acquisition of TOTALogistix, a provider of cloud-based transportation management systems (TMS) to manufacturers, retailers, and distributors in North America. Oracle announced new capabilities in MICROS Simphony Cloud Point-of-Sale (POS) that help restaurants be more productive and expand selling channels, implementing direct integrations to third-party delivery services, such as DoorDash and Uber Eats, as well as built-in QR Codes for payments.

This week, financial results were released from Workday and UKG. Workday announced results for the fiscal 2024 first quarter ended April 30, 2023. UKG provided a business update for the second quarter of fiscal 2023, ending March 31, 2023. In other news, Sage Intacct and IFS announced major product releases. Sage Intacct received updates to help businesses across the world simplify financial consolidations, streamline operations, and improve financial planning. IFS announced the general availability of the first of its twice-yearly IFS Cloud releases, aiming to support customers by enhancing business agility, building resilience, and mitigating risk. Deltek entered into an agreement to acquire Replicon.

ERP Advisors Group had the pleasure of attending the 2023 Epicor Insights Conference in Las Vegas, which focused on “turning insight into action.” Epicor’s CEO, Steve Murphy, summarized the event, stating, “To be successful in today’s marketplace, Makers, Movers, and Sellers must make data-driven decisions faster and with greater accuracy. It’s all about the right insights, in the right place, at the right time.” Related, SAP also hosted their conference in Orlando last week, SAP Sapphire in 2023. SAP made announcements across Business AI, the Green Ledger, and business-ready innovations.

After a successful ERP go-live, most business leaders want to take a hiatus from the intensity, expense, and disruption of managing implementation and the furthest thing from their mind is optimizing their new software. However, before a new system can truly revolutionize business operations, executives must freshly consider the organization’s strategy with the new possibilities available to them with more modern software. In this episode of The ERP Advisor, resident ERP expert Shawn Windle will lay the groundwork for reimagining the future of your business with a roadmap of post-go-live optimizations.

SAP and IBM announced that IBM Watson technology will be embedded into SAP solutions to provide new AI-driven insights and automation to create more efficient and effective user experiences across the SAP application portfolio. Google Cloud and UKG announced an expanded partnership to bring Google Cloud’s generative AI (GenAI) capabilities into the UKG HCM suites. FinancialForce announced that it had changed its name to Certinia to align with the company’s evolution and delivery of a comprehensive Services-as-a-Business (SaaB) platform. Epicor will host the 2023 Epicor Insights Conference next week. ERP Advisors Group will be attending the event to provide firsthand coverage of Epicor's advancements in 2023 and beyond. Don’t miss out, subscribe to our channels, or follow us on social media for coverage of the event. Register for EAG's AI Webinar at: https://www.erpadvisorsgroup.com/events/transforming-your-business-with-financial-automation

Microsoft Corp. announced its results for the first quarter ending March 31, 2023, compared to the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. IFS announced its financial results for the quarter ending March 31st, 2023, with recurring revenues up a significant 48% year-over-year. Additionally, Annual Recurring Revenue was also up 57% year-over-year. Unit4 announced the General Availability of App Studio, a new feature within the Unit4 Extension Kit to assist customers in streamlining their development and automation efforts. This comes just weeks after Unit4’s launch of Unit4 Marketplace, a platform where Unit4 ISV, Reseller, and Service partners can showcase industry and vertical Apps that link to Unit4’s ERP solutions.

The dreaded ERP contract renewal is one of the most daunting tasks a business can face post-ERP implementation. If vital steps are taken upfront during initial contract negotiations, it can ease the weight on executives' shoulders come renewal, but what should businesses ask for? What do these terms mean? And what if great terms were not originally negotiated? These problems plague many businesses unfamiliar with the complex nature of ERP contracts. On this episode of The ERP Advisor, Shawn Windle breaks down ERP contracts, enabling businesses to get the best deal on their ERP software solutions and manage the overall ERP contract renewal process.