Two-Tier ERP Continues to Surge
Yet another data point in the growing mound of evidence that two-tier ERP deployments continue to gain traction and grow in popularity amongst companies with disparate HQ and field subsidiary business requirements.
This article, posted on the MSDynamicsWorld website, references an interesting study of 500 chemical manufacturers that highlights where administrative, enterprise ERP solutions are being used most, and where the two-tier, or “hub and spoke” solution is a better fit.
What I find most relevant about this discussion is the rigor with which we see companies looking at more specialized options for their subsidiary deployments, and the degree of detail that is truly needed to support many of the processes and applications that make a business like a chemical manufacturer actually run–it's stunning to consider the number or processes, the complexity of the supply chain, the speed at which seemingly unrelated parts need to come together at exactly the right time–certainly not a business for the timid.
What the survey reflects is what we're seeing in the ERP inudstry as well: it’s no longer enough that there are ties to the HQ financials from the local ERP system, or that orders can easily be passed back and forth across borders—those are table stakes that have been in place for some time. What we're seeing are lots of companies now coming to the first meeting with very process and industry-specific requirements for their ERP needs, something that wasn’t the case just a few years ago.
As such, being able to deliver a business application to them that fits these processes that are so crucial to their business, is easy to use, and integrates with their HQ ERP system is a trend we're seeing more and more of, and it's great to have a product portfolio and proof points to be able to deliver on this need.
