What role will AI play in your business? How can you use the functionality to improve your business? With more than 70 percent of companies expected to use more than one form of AI in their ERP strategies by 2021, vendors will continue to add more functionality as the demand increases. So what will it mean for you?
Following our last two posts on the importance of a postmodern ERP strategy and its role in delivering a customized solution for your company, we would today like to close out our series by discussing the role of AI in making such a strategy a reality.
What Role does AI Play in an ERP Strategy?
A recent report from Gartner looked to answer this question, exploring the most common uses of this functionality, how it makes your workforce more effective, how it will integrate with your IoT strategy, and their recommendations for using it to make your digital transformation a success.
What is Artificial Intelligence in ERP?
So you may be wondering, “what is AI and how does it pertain to our ERP strategy?” Per Gartner, AI is best understood as a collection of technologies, such as machine learning (ML) and natural-language processing (NLP), that augment or exceed human cognitive abilities.
From bots, chatbots, and virtual assistants to smart objects, conversational platforms and analytics functionality, AI delivers constantly learning, constantly evolving technology that grows with your business.
How Does AI Apply to ERP?
As it pertains to your enterprise resource planning software, the above-mentioned applications all provide some form of benefit, but one area in which companies technology to improve ERP is in the form of Robotic Process Automation (RPA). While not technically AI (AI needs to learn), RPAis often used in conjunction with AI to deliver improved ERP functionality.
Designed to mimic the manual and laborious tasks that your finance staff will have to complete on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, RPA delivers increased speed and accuracy and allows your staff more time to focus on completing tasks that matter to grow and improve your business.
AI in a Postmodern ERP Strategy
With new technologies set to change the way that people, organizations, and industries work, it’s likely that the ERP solutions you are considering today are vastly different than the ones you saw in the past.
The digital revolution is introducing sweeping changes to the way in which we conduct business. Its impacts cannot be understated. ERP lies at the heart of most organizations’ business processes, and is undergoing a radical transformation in order to respond to the demands of digital business.
The postmodern ERP era creates a stable, agile core that supports differentiated processes to deliver business outcomes. That said, one of the biggest benefits of a postmodern ERP strategy is the continuous improvement it delivers for companies.
Rather than one solution with a few sporadic updates over the life of the product, postmodern ERP delivers new functionality quite rapidly and for which new features can be added with ease. A recent Software Advice article compares it to “owning the same car indefinitely, but with various components that can easily be changed out as needed.”
With this in mind, even if AI is already an immensely viable and valuable tool for organizations, the functionality and benefits that it delivers need to evolve alongside your ERP, making this technology a perfect fit for a postmodern ERP strategy.
AI is Set to Change the Way ERP Works: Learn How
A recent Gartner report explored a wide variety of processes in which AI can improve your business’ use of postmodern ERP, and you can get it free courtesy of Acumatica. The entire report, aptly titled A Guide to AI in Postmodern ERP Strategies, shares key insights into how technology can improve your business in a wide range of areas including Human Capital Management, Procurement, Finance, and so much more.
In “A Guide to AI in Postmodern ERP Strategies,” you’ll learn:
- The most common applications of AI technology in business.
- How conversational AI platforms can improve the effectiveness of your workforce.
- Where the Internet of Things (IoT) may fit into your ERP strategy.
- How AI enhances the HCM, finance, and procurement functions.
- Gartner’s four recommendations for supporting your digital transformation.
We invite you to read the entire report here.
At MIBAR, we are committed to helping organizations just like yours to leverage the right technology for business growth. It’s an exciting time in the business management software world and this is just one of the many areas where technological advancements are improving visibility, saving time, and improving decision making. Get to know more about the products we work with, read case studies from our highly satisfied clients, and contact us for a free consultation.
Postmodern ERP Series:
The Path to a Postmodern ERP Strategy Part 1: Understanding Postmodern ERP
The Path to Postmodern ERP Part 2: How Postmodern ERP Delivers Focused Software
