What's the future of ERP?  What kind of a silly question is that, you may be asking yourself. First off, predicting the future-especially in the technology world-is a fool's errand, best handled by Ouija Boards and IT analysts' dartboards. And isn't the future of ERP already here? Software as a service, on-demand apps, enterprise 2.0 collaboration, open-source software, virtualization, cloud platforms. What more is there?

Right now, not much else. But the real future of enterprise software isn't exclusively based on wow-factor applications and functionality. It's about not only knowing which new applications and delivery models can immediately help the business but being technologically fleet of foot to take advantage of those new apps fast. That means not in 18 months or "next quarter," but whenever line-of-business managers truly need that functionality. Think days. 

In addition, CIOs and IT staffs must be certain that the underlying architecture and systems decisions they have made (or are making right now) are guided by a road map that allows for flexibility-an ability to adapt enterprise technology to disruptive business events as they occur.

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