ITA Collaboratives
The Information Technology Alliance (ITA) is a community comprised of CPA firms, consultants and technology partners that holds two collaboratives per year to share knowledge about running their practices and the business technology that runs them. Most of the consultants that belong to the ITA provide services and/or represent Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. At the spring collaboratives, the conference planners schedule longer sessions and workshops to dive deeper into the hot topics in our industry. The 2025 collaborative in Memphis Tennessee featured two sessions on the future of ERP along with another session on the rise of agentic artificial intelligence in ERP.
Major Drivers Transforming ERP
Business management software has been evolving over the past 40 years. From its roots in accounting software, through expansion to touch all aspects of business management, ERP systems continue to evolve and improve with new technology. Three major drivers driving transformation in ERP include:
- Cloud Computing
- Software as a Service
- Artificial Intelligence
Cloud Computing
With the rise of centralized computing delivered over the internet, the cloud has consistently increased power while lowering costs. Lower costs are driven by new technologies for virtualization with auto scaling containers and software to automate its management. Furthermore, by offering the infrastructure as a service (IaaS), companies gained fractional access to more powerful equipment that they could not afford individually.
New and improving software has also eliminated the need to maintain software on every users computer. First with terminal services which emulated the desktop, centralized management enables faster release of enhancements and new features. This efficiency is multiplied when the end user can access software and information from a web browser.
However, the most fundamental shift enabled by cloud computing is anywhere access. Anywhere access is more than the work from home capability that was so important during the pandemic. The cloud allows companies to securely exchange information in real time with suppliers, service providers, customers and any other stakeholder.
Software as a Service
Cloud computing allowed companies access to compute power as a service. Software companies quickly followed suit offering software licenses as a subscription service rather than an up front purchase. Just like IaaS, Software as a Service (SaaS) turns what was formerly a capital expenditure into an operating cost.
Similar to cloud computing, companies utilizing SaaS are able to reduce upfront costs and shift accounting for costs as period expenditures. Traditional software models included periodic updates which typically required assistance from an expert. In addition to the software maintenance costs, the hourly service fees made ERP upgrades costly and often result in varying amounts of downtime depending upon the nature and frequency of the updates. Furthermore, when centrally deployed in the cloud, SaaS applications are rolled out for all customers reducing consulting effort and related costs.
More importantly, new subscription models require the software publishers to continuously provide value for ongoing subscription fees which has resulted in faster development cycles and resulting innovation. Instead of upgrading once every two or three years, most SaaS publishers have multiple major updates and regular enhancement of their systems.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Automation software has been around for a long time. Computers are good at performing repetitive tasks consistently. Programmers build automations with logic to automate more complex tasks. What makes artificial intelligence so important is the ability to learn and adapt. Because new artificial intelligence technology is built to think like a human, we can teach it how to act more autonomously.
Artificial intelligence comes in many forms.
- Simple chatbots interpret requests and provide answers.
- Copilots are designed to augment capabilities and assist with tasks to boost productivity.
- Agents are built to operate to various degrees of autonomy.
Future of AI in ERP
With software and systems increasingly connected in the cloud using SaaS platforms with open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), artificial intelligence is a game changer.
- Integrations infused with AI can adapt or alert users when new and unforeseen conditions arise.
- Agentic AI systems can interact with customers at a higher and deeper level.
- Service technicians will receive detailed instructions or useful suggestions on how to repair machinery.
- Applications like Slack and Teams will be integrated so users can ask questions and receive information without ever logging into the ERP.
The use cases for AI are limitless but also limited. Just like their human counterparts, AI Agents must be trained. In addition, computers are predicting how they should process information based upon the data available to them. Therefore, if the data used for prediction is inconsistent, or worse, wrong; the AI will produce incorrect answers.
Humans will be “in the loop” in most every process using AI in ERP systems.
- Taking action based upon input from the AI.
- Approving actions for new circumstances the AI encounters.
- Setting new parameters or conditions to control the AI.
AI will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of many business processes. Most AI projects allow for growth without the need for additional staff and can result in some reductions in force. However AI will not replace humans in the office, nor will it take all our jobs.
ERP Publisher Perspectives
The Future of ERP panel discussions at the 2025 Spring Collaborative featured Acumatica, Microsoft, Sage and Syspro. All these leading publishers are building AI into their ERP and SaaS platforms. Common early forms of AI in ERP include:
- Chatbots for help.
- Anomaly detection to reduce data entry and other errors.
More importantly, these publishers are looking for ways to assist users to be more productive in their areas of strength. For example:
- Acumatica has provided a AI Copilot Studio to enable customers and partners to build AI features designed for their use cases.
- Microsoft utilizes its Azure platform and tools like Power BI and Copilot technology in its Dynamics 365 ERP.
- Sage is focusing on document recognition and automated entry in Accounts Payable and technology to enable a continuous close in Sage Intacct.
- Syspro is looking at manufacturing best practices across its customer portfolio to embed AI in its products.
Security and Governance
The publishers also recognize the need for trustworthy AI. Accordingly, they are providing the guardrails to secure the data in ERP and parameters to improve the accuracy of AI predictions. For example:
- AI systems are being developed modularly so an “agent” accessing the companies internal is not connected to a public large language model (LLM) which could expose confidential data.
- Unified logins control access to information that can be retrieved by AI systems based upon permissions in the ERP software.
- Multiple LLMs are used to generate answers to ensure the accuracy of the AI.
Getting Started with AI in ERP
Artificial Intelligence is some pretty complex technology. Building custom, secure and accurate AI is very expensive and beyond the budget of most small to mid-market companies. This is why all the leading publishers are developing standard AI use cases or tool to leverage AI in their ERP.
Currently, these tools are good for basic inquiry, data enrichment or “standard” functions.
Predictions for the Future of ERP
With all the AI hype in the market, the major publishers are all making huge investments. Early adopters on the bleeding edge are already using AI with the modern ERP packages. Third party developers are also building agents that are ERP agnostic or adaptable to most any modern ERP. During the Rise of AI Agents in ERP session, Shelly Bitter demonstrated recognition of an unformatted AP Invoice received in Outlook magically loaded in SAP Business One. When the agent found an item not in the system, it asked Shelly what to do and then created the Item with no additional intervention required. Agents for sales order capture, time and expense management, report and query development, help desk and more will be available in 2025.
Actions You Can Take NOW!
.Regardless of your business management software, now is the time to get started with AI.
- Sign up for a free account or subscribe to a generative AI provider. Generative AI is great for:
- Writing grants and proposals,
- Marketing content development and social medial blogposts,
- Developing queries for any database system,
- Writing simple programs.
- Make certain you are on a current version of your business management software and find out what they are doing with AI.
- Ask your copilot or chatbot what companies in your industry are doing with AI.
Now is a good time for your organizations leadership to brainstorm on how you can increase efficiency in your business with modern technology. If you need help consider:
- Consider a Visioning engagement with one of our executives. We can help you imagine your future state and help develop a roadmap for success.
- If you have an ERP but don’t know if you are ready, start with a free Digital Transformation Readiness Assessment. One of our executives familiar with your ERP platform can help!
- If you are looking to better understand options for automating your current processes, consider a no obligation Automation Explore. A session with an automation architect can help point you in the right direction.