In the last few decades, the VCR has become obsolete. If you ask a younger person in middle school or elementary school what a VCR is, they would probably have a confused look on their face because it hasn’t really been around since they were born. This isn’t because the VCR or VHS was a bad piece of technology, at the time, in fact, it was quite ground breaking for movie and T.V. lovers. However, simply put, new and better technology was invented. The VCR and VHS had to take a side step to the DVD. Instead of dealing with a big bulky tape and tape player, people could carry around a slim box and disc that produced better quality video. And, again, a new technology was created and the DVD took a side step. Now everything can be streamed and there is no need to carry around anything. Simply purchase the movie or show from your smart T.V.

So, what does the VCR have to do with ERP? More than you’d think.

Just like the VCR, at the time that ERP became a staple among businesses in the 1980’s it was a groundbreaking technology that helped to make companies more efficient. This was a technological advance that changed the way companies operated and allowed companies to focus on more than just creating a product or service, but continually improving it. Just like many technologies, a newer and better version of ERP was created, cloud ERP. Now, it could be accessed from the cloud giving companies remote access from anywhere that had an internet connection. The high cost of ERP maintenance no longer existed because it did not need to be hosted on-premise. ERP became better and easier for businesses, but unlike the VCR and DVD and streaming, it didn’t catch on. Companies weren’t scrambling to get onto the cloud, and there are still companies that have yet to upgrade their decades old ERP. What would you say if you knew someone who still hadn’t upgraded from their VHS tapes and VCR?

One day, on-premise ERP may become obsolete as well. We already are seeing some systems slowly phasing out, the vendors are no longer creating updates and customers are falling off of maintenance. Just like those who still hold on to their VHS tapes may have a difficult time finding a VCR to play it one, some on-premise systems are finding it difficult to find the complementing “parts”. Instead of digging our heels in the dirt against this ERP technological change, we should embrace it like we have the DVD and streaming. These systems have been creating to make our lives easier and to make our businesses run more efficiently.

There is no one-size-fits-all and you have to do some research to find the best ERP solution for you. Read more here.