ERP Market Tops $18 Billion and Will Continue to Grow
Enterprise Application suppliers offer Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications and one or more of the following best of breed solutions: Supply Chain Management (SCM), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Supplier Relationship Management (SRM), or Product Lifecycle Management (PLM). This study describes the Enterprise Applications market, as well as the ERP market, paying special attention to the manufacturing verticals.
The ERP market continues to grow, driven by acquisitions, growth in emerging markets like China, penetration of new industries, increasing maintenance revenues, and exchange rate movements.
Technically, it has evolved from mainframe solutions, through client-server architectures, to Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA).
Unlike the mid 1990s when software acquisitions failed, SOA now enables the acquiring company to easily cross-sell the acquired solution.
In addition, maintenance revenues have become a major growth driver. These post-sale revenues are also a stable and profitable income stream against which acquiring companies can borrow at relatively low cost.
Strategic Issues
Within the Enterprise Application and ERP markets, there are numerous opportunities for growth. This study looks at:
- Acquisition opportunities that remain and the market synergies they would create.
- The relative importance of China versus Asia Pacific, Latin American, and European regional markets.
- The functionality and services that can be included to differentiate an ERP solution.
- The channel strategies that are most beneficial.
- The manufacturing verticals that offer the best opportunities for growth.