Future-Ready Retail Requires an Interoperable Approach to ERPs

Retailers know that change is constant—but in the last few years, the industry has seen change accelerate at a spectacular pace. Amid so much change, a retailer’s ability to adapt is paramount to its ability to survive—let alone thrive. Yet adaptability is challenged by monolithic enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. “In many cases, retail ERP systems are old and disparate, cobbling together a lot of different point solutions,” says Karen Schreiber, principal at KPMG LLP. No ERP system is truly one-size-fits-all. It’s more effective to implement a cloud-native interoperable ERP that can seamlessly integrate with best-of-breed point solutions, providing the flexibility to adapt to evolving business needs and change.

While both legacy ERPs and their modern alternatives target core business functions such as finance and human resources, the latter is built with adaptability at its core. Highly flexible and configurable, an interoperable ERP can evolve over time, adding new best-of-breed applications as they emerge and removing outdated solutions—without disrupting the business.

A legacy ERP forces retailers to play by its rules. An interoperable ERP plays well with others. Retailers that make the shift to a modern solution will be better positioned to adapt as business changes—now and into the future. Read on to learn five considerations driving more retailers to rethink their ERP strategies.