ERP software vendors are targeting SMEs with SaaS and SOA offerings – Are these technologies beneficial to SMEs in Singapore when considering adopting ERP?

Many articles that I have researched through the Internet have reflected an optimistic outlook into the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)software market despite the economic recession from late 2007 to current. The optimistic forecast was fuelled by globalization, midmarket growth and other factors. It is also due to the new Information Technology (IT) concepts that ERP software companies are adopting to entice midmarket enterprises worldwide to buy their services and products. My report will be describing some underlying IT concepts, namely Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), Software as a Service (SaaS) and Cloud Computing, which have evolved around the Internet and its pervasive nature. The Internet is undeniably one of the driving factors for widespread globalisation. ERP software companies are adopting these IT technologies and packaging their software into suite of services that provide better integration and relevance to current IT requirements. The SME market is viewed to be an attractive and lucrative market to target at due to a higher percentage of SME companies as compared to large enterprises in developing countries such as China and India. ERP is considered by many to be mainly for large enterprises due to the high cost in implementing one. Hence, ERP software companies have to shed this stereotyping stigma by marketing lower cost alternatives which leverages on new technologies, such as SaaS, to suit SMEs. The main benefit of ERP software is the best practices that are built into its automated work processes. Originally considered extravagant to SMEs is now being repackaged to be more affordable. However, besides costs, another challenge is that Singapore SMEs are mostly family-owned and conservative in terms of adopting technology. My report will discuss on whether these new offerings by ERP software giants (such as NetSuite and SAP) are indeed beneficial to Singapore SMEs and suggest ways in which ERP software companies can do to overcome their reluctance and to change their attitude towards ERP