I said, in an earlier post, that people at Gartner claimed that the ERP solutions will become mobile. At the base of this statement lies the fact that despite the global economic downturn, it is still something that organisations are willing to invest in: mobility.
With mobile devices becoming omnipresent, the companies can benefit from improved quality of service, greater productivity or deeper business relationships. Now, it is more important how a producer chooses to sell than what they sell. For the sales teams, to have immediate and real-time data on what’s going on with orders, customers and suppliers is critical. So, ERP mobility will be a dominant force from the shop floor to each sales call where quotes, orders and contracts deliver real-time order and pricing updates.
Therefore, beyond mobile devices already integrated with ERP solutions (handheld, pocket PC, etc.), the managers and executives are already pushing for service delivery on mobile devices like iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry, Android etc. Why? Because the expectations are very high for having real-time updates on a series of benchmarks that the management team uses to manage their many businesses on mobile platforms. Plus, according also to Gartner, by 2015 the tablet market will be 479 million units and the PC market will be only just ahead at 535 million units. In other words, in three years the tablets alone are going to have effective parity with PCs. And, in most of the companies, the mobile devices will replace the traditional laptops, much heavier and more voluminous. Which will push ERP manufacturers to deliver those services including on iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, etc.
And, being able to mobilise ERP applications, the companies will achieve an important competitive advantage.