The Business of Enterprise Application in 2024 -
EMS, ERP, CRM, Planning Tools, and other Management Technologies
Enterprise applications have come long way since Joseph Orlicky’s MRP[i] from the 1990s to Microsoft Dynamics 365 in the 2020s. In his book, Orlicky visualises the evolution of Planning tools as a tree, where each circle represents a new system of a distinct business function that supposedly works in synergy of the previously developed ones. An ideology that is still prevalent in the SaaS market where we see a CRM like Freshworks being used conjointly with a Task management tool like monday.com
The goal for such application, remains the same: To provide unified planning and decision making through a single dashboard, customised for the intended user levels.
Major Players
As per the new reports[ii] SAP , once a market leader that now sits at 13.5%, has been overtaken by Microsoft's Dynamics platforms that have taken the lead with 16.5% share all while being the newest player among the Top 3. The second runner up, Workday, like SAP, is exclusively an ERP organisation with 6.9% market share.
The rest of the 60%+ of the market share is still distributed among the minor players.
Microsoft Dynamics
Many will agree that MS Excel is the language of business. Arguably the original “Low-Code” platform that could be used to create almost every module of an ERP system be it inventory management, project planning, or CRM. Microsoft has leveraged its deep brand penetration and the new Copilot Ai to capture the market share rapidly for its Dynamics Platform.[iii]
Being an Industry giant, Microsoft played its cards well with the introduction of robust free learning and paid certifications for is dynamics platform which reduces the barrier to entry not just for early adapters but also for its large network of distribution partners to sell effectively. The product portfolio model is very simple – Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central that will suit most business models and SMEs, and additionally developed modules that can work in tandem to Business central to support core operations.
SAP
SAP became for ERP to what Xerox was to printing. With clients like Walmart, Alphabet Inc., and Apple, it is still the strongest player[iv]
What makes SAP difficult to understand is its nomenclature and product portfolio. There multiple products to accomplish the same function, some that are newly developed, and some which are legacy. With more than 50 offerings[v], it may be the best solution for your organisation with right combination, or can become a barrier to adaptability with long implementations.
New Age SaaS
While there are promising candidates in the full-scale enterprise management systems leading with open-source models like ERPNext and Odoo, the regional penetration of B2B SaaS start-ups cannot be overlooked.
Specialised tools like Atlassian Jira and HubSpot provide either a stripped-down version or a highly sophisticated version what full-scale systems provide for specific business functions. 6sense lists that the technographic market has more than 30,000 separate technologies to carter to the specific functional needs of business users.[vi]
Platforms with No-Code and Low-Code offer greater customisability at the cost of lower expertise. Bubble, Appsmith, Airtable , and ClickUp are some of the trending players with Notion being the most popular[vii].
While they do not list themselves in the ERP space, they surely compete for a look-alike audience with smaller team size or volume of business.
The End Goal – Unified Dashboard Vision
SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, and Workday can be used the only piece of software that is required to run a business if implemented properly. Third Party integrations and development platforms offered by them enable them to be modified according to the unique user needs when required.
The big players are not behind with low-code and no-code tools either. Microsoft Power Platform, Lightning Platform by Salesforce, and Zoho Creator by Zoho are some of the examples that restate that fact that entrepreneurship is very much alive and thriving within these giants.
My analysis points towards a utopia where businesses, whether big or small, would be running only one software, with devices that are locked in and highly optimised for running them. Square with its sales management system has achieved something similar with its Point of Sales system. This would ensure not only distraction free work-environment but higher standards of data privacy.
How once, every mobile phone had different design, software, and workflow; is the analogous to how these management systems are right now. Sooner or later, they envision to becoming the “only tool you need”. Smooth information flow between team members and stake holders is still a distant reality.
Challenges and efforts
The everchanging business models of start-ups, and sheer size of major organisation’s workforce and data becomes an unfathomable challenge towards the utopian vision.
For any business to successfully implement a management technology, it has to have a stable or mature business model. Walmart, a user of such unified system, works in the retail sector which has been standardised over the last few decades. Where start-ups new business models are still in the process of iterations where they are yet to stable enough for a full-scale ERP.This is where you need a dedication technology team to build data analytics and business intelligence pipelines for you.
Apart from the already listed players, Google also comes with its diverse ecosystem of tools and technologies to the aid. Google Cloud, Looker, Google DeepMind, Google Workspace, and AppSheet can definitely be leveraged for this cause.
Even when using multiple tools, integration and automation tools like Power Automate, Zapier, Pabbly, Integrately, and Make can help them unify all the workflows to an extent.
The real question though is not what to use, by why and how to use. Pricing and Workflow Adaptation remain the key pain points in the space of Enterprise applications.
[i] (Ptak et al., 2011)
[ii] (“Top ERP software market share by company 2023,” n.d.)
[iii] (Lamanna, 2023)
[iv] (Pang, 2022)
[v] (“A to Z Product Listing of SAP Applications, Software and Platforms,” n.d.)
[vi] (“6sense Technographics Data for B2B Businesses {current_year},” n.d.)
[vii] (“Notion - Market Share, Competitor Insights in Collaborative Workspaces,” n.d.)
Bibliography:
6sense Technographics Data for B2B Businesses {current_year} [WWW Document], n.d. . 6sense. URL https://6sense.com/tech (accessed 2.12.24).
A to Z Product Listing of SAP Applications, Software and Platforms [WWW Document], n.d. . SAP. URL https://www.sap.com/india/products/a-z.html (accessed 2.12.24).
Lamanna, C., 2023. Introducing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Copilot, the world’s first copilot in both CRM and ERP, that brings next-generation AI to every line of business [WWW Document]. Off. Microsoft Blog. URL https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2023/03/06/introducing-microsoft-dynamics-365-copilot/ (accessed 2.12.24).
Notion - Market Share, Competitor Insights in Collaborative Workspaces [WWW Document], n.d. . 6sense. URL https://www.6sense.com/tech/collaborative-workspaces/notion-market-share (accessed 2.12.24).
Pang, A., 2022. Top 10 ERP Software Vendors, Market Size and Market Forecast 2021-2026. APPS RUN WORLD. URL https://www.appsruntheworld.com/top-10-erp-software-vendors-and-market-forecast/ (accessed 2.12.24).
Ptak, C.A., Smith, C., Orlicky, J., 2011. Orlicky’s material requirements planning, 3rd ed. ed. McGraw-Hill, New York.
Top ERP software market share by company 2023 [WWW Document], n.d. . Statista. URL https://www.statista.com/statistics/249637/erp-software-market-share-by-company/ (accessed 2.12.24).