The Top 5 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Trends

Now more than ever, speed-to-market is king for apparel manufacturers. See now, buy now is the status quo for internet-savvy consumers whose choices are innumerable and where time is money. Manufacturers equipped to meet consumer demand will remain competitive while those that do not will be left behind.

A company’s ERP is an essential tool, not only in helping a business streamline its processes, but also in building greater efficiency, accuracy and speed. In fact, according to Gartner - an information technology and business research firm in Stamford, Connecticut - by 2020, organizations that have successfully renovated their core ERP will achieve a 75% improvement in IT response agility and cost-to-value outcomes.

In a recent report, CGS interviewed 70 leaders and key influencers responsible for driving operational excellence for their brands via ERP, supply chain management, warehouse logistics and product design. In its annual survey, these leaders were asked to identify where their company planned to spend their resources in 2017; how brands are prioritizing their strategic goals; and the top requirements being considered when evaluating enterprise technology.

Here are the top five ERP trends uncovered:

1. Increasing Supply Chain Speed

As fashion and apparel companies are looking to speed up and streamline their supply chain in 2017, they are also increasing their investments by 7%.

One company that has responded well to this imperative is Burberry. For its spring/summer 2017 collection, the company broke from its usual timeline which would have had them beginning product design in May 2016. Instead, Burberry began designing 7 months earlier, in January.

The company communicated all lead times and production schedules with its supply chain partners to ensure that the products were produced and delivered on time. Once the wholesale orders had been placed, the Burberry team fulfilled orders for department stores, eCommerce, its own flagship stores and other retailers so they could hit the ground running after a fashion show.

2. Increasing Warehouse Management Spend

A major challenge companies face is handling inventory and order management for an omnichannel supply chain. When the components of their businesses are siloed off from one another, that challenge is further compounded.

To solve this problem, brands are increasingly turning to fully integrated Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) for standardizing the communication between different entities, including manufacturers, payment providers, third-party logistics partners, eCommerce and warehouses.

Respondents increased their warehouse spend by 7% - from 30% in 2016 to 37% in 2017. This increase has enabled companies to streamline their inventory and warehouse operations, reducing errors, increasing speed and saving money.

3. Reevaluating Business Processes

Business Process Reengineering was identified as the top business priority for reshaping ERP strategies in 2017, as outdated business processes can severely limit a company’s growth.

This might include:

1. Refocusing company values on customer needs

2. Redesigning core processes, using technology to enable improvements

3. Reorganizing a business into cross-functional teams with end-to-end responsibility

4. Rethinking basic organization and people issues

5. Improving business processes across the organization

Each of these steps address different components that, when implemented in tandem, can transform your business into a finely tuned machine.

To embrace BPR is to go to the core transparency within one’s business practices. Outdated, manual processes should be updated in favor of data-driven software that meets a brand’s current and future business goals.

4.  Using Big Data to Identify Emerging Growth Trends

Finding new areas of growth remains a top business priority in 2016 and 2017. With business intelligence and analytics, companies are gaining better insights and transparency into new areas of growth, and we see companies shift their distribution strategies between eCommerce, brick and mortar and wholesale based on big data to maximize sales.

The integration of business intelligence (BI) into ERP unlocks a whole new world of growth potential for companies. Survey respondents agreed that the most effective method for growth is to get better visibility into their operations through data-driven insights.

For example, Nike leverages its data by segmenting their market into sporting categories, then targets the needs of each segment by identifying what athletes looked for in each sport. Since making that shift in 2008, Nike has reported 70% in sales growth.

Having BI fully integrated with ERP empowers companies to make strategic decisions around how their inventory should meet customer needs on a global scale. Real-time analytics provide a centralized view of demand and supply across all distribution channels, including eCommerce, storefronts and wholesale partners.

5. Maximizing Efficiency Through Fully Integrated EDI

The three most important considerations were the ability to integrate business processes, reporting and analytics and fully integrated EDI.

EDI is key to improving warehouse and inventory management. But the value of EDI extends farther— it’s at the heart of a smoothly functioning ERP. In fact, EDI is a top-three requirement that companies have when selecting an ERP.

In a 2016 survey by CGS entitled, “EDI and its Role in Supply Chain Management,” 75% of respondents were using EDI as part of their supply chain management. In addition to streamlining the supply chain, integrating EDI with ERP enables companies to reduce processing time, improve productivity, and decrease errors.

Ultimately, the role of EDI is to ensure a company runs as smoothly as possible, day in and day out.

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The big trends in ERP all involve bringing old business processes into the digital age. From adapting to the demands of a “see now, buy now” generation by streamlining supply chains, to rethinking core business processes using BPR; from leveraging data-driven insights with BI and maximizing efficiency with EDI, the key to staying ahead of the curve is leveraging the power of big data information to increase speed-to-market and drive growth.

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