Merry Christmas - 2018

Merry Christmas

As the Christmas season quickly comes upon us, I would like to wish all my readers and contacts the very best for the season. I do hope you and your family have a happy and safe break. I look forward to seeing you all again next year.

Over the Christmas break I often reflect on the year that has been and the year to come. Below, please find a small selection of my predictions for 2019:

• The momentum to cloud offerings from software vendors will increase.
• The number of companies that consider changing their systems will increase, because so many companies are still on old systems.
• The number of ERP failures will increase over the next few years as; 1) the number of unseasoned executives make old mistakes around ERP selection and implementation; and 2) the number of new challenges being presented by the new cloud offerings are dealt with. There will never be a more important time to get experienced independent advice.
• The ability of a company's IT team to access the back end databases will come to an end as the large software vendors lock down data in their cloud offerings. Some because of the multi-tenant arrangements and some because of revenue generating opportunities.
• The level of service being delivered from cloud software vendors will diminish over time as the volume of service requests they have to deal with increase.
• The movement to the cloud has placed the revenue model software partners relied on for so long, at risk. The subscription model has removed a significant layer of revenue from partners and shifted it back to the original vendor. The impact is partners will be seeking new avenues of revenue. How they respond to this challenge will be highly dependent on the individual company's culture. Some will resort to telling more lies than normal or at least saying less than usual, thereby increasing the risk of failure. (It is my contention it is more important to understand what a software salesperson is NOT saying, than what they say.)

Once again, best wishes for the Christmas/New Year season. I look forward to seeing you next year.

A small reminder, if you or anyone you know is looking:

• To improve the way their business operates 
• To improve the way they leverage their current ERP system or
• Are thinking about replacing their current ERP system

Give me a call for a confidential discussion on the best way to achieve this.

Until next year ...

© David Ogilvie