The Evolution of ERP Systems: A Historical Perspective

Abstract

ERP Systems are now ubiquitous in large businesses and the current move by vendors is to re-package them for small to medium enterprises (SMEs). This migration has many consequences that have to be addressed through understanding the history and evolution of ERP systems and their current architectures. The advantages and disadvantages of the ERP systems will impact their penetration in this new market. The market position and general strategy of the major systems providers in preparation for this push are described. The chapter concludes that the growth and success of ERP adoption and development in the new millennium will depend on the legacy ERP system’s capability of extending to Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Supply Chain Management (SCM) and other extended modules, and integration with the Internet-enabled applications.