FROM JBOPS TO MEIOSIS – IX
In the mid-1990s everyone referred to the great ERP leaders as JBOPS – JD Edwards, Baan, Oracle, PeopleSoft, and SAP. These companies were estimated to own over half of all market share in the ERP space. But the market consolidated dramatically in the early 2000s leaving what Gartner referred to as the SPOMS which soon turned into SOMS – SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, and Sage as JD Edwards had been acquired by PeopleSoft who in turn was acquired by Oracle. Meanwhile, UK-based Sage Group continued to acquire midmarket ERP products becoming a major force in the market along with Microsoft’s entry into ERP with the acquisitions of Great Plains (along with Solomon) and Navision (along with Axapta).
But that was about a decade ago and a LOT has changed since then. Our opinion is that the market has shifted dramatically and there are now many more major players to consider – especially in the North American market. From e2b’s perspective, the market leaders can now be identified by a new acronym (because acronyms are a cornerstone of the ERP market).
– Microsoft continues to invest in the SMB space with Great Plains (Microsoft Dynamics GP) and the SME space with Axapta (Microsoft Dynamics AX). Navision (Microsoft Dynamics NAV) continues as a strategic product as well. Only Solomon (Microsoft Dynamics SL) appears to be in sunset mode.
– A billion dollar SMB and SME player, Epicor continues to invest solidly in its flagship Epicor ERP product. Epicor has grown through acquisition but formed initially from the merger of Platinum Software and Dataworks (which had acquired DCD – Vantage & Vista). Epicor grew significantly in 2011 when private-equity firm APAX merged Epicor with distribution and retail giant Activant (Eclipse, Eagle, Prelude, Prophet 21, and more).
– Another ERP vendor coming out of nowhere was Infor (previously Agilisys). The company started in 2002 embarking on a series of acquisitions making them one of the leading ERP vendors in the SME space today. Products owned include NxTrend, Aperum, Lilly Software’s Visual Manufacturing, Syteline, BAAN, MAPICS, BPCS, Lawson, and a LOT more.
– Oracle eBusiness Suite also remains from the original Tier One JBOPS having acquired previous competitors in JD Edwards and PeopleSoft. In 2016 Oracle acquired NetSuite, one of the fastest growing ERP vendor on the planet and a company that was formed with investments from Oracle CEO Larry Ellison as NetLedger and Oracle Small Business Suite for a period of time before the name change to NetSuite.
– Founded in the UK serving primarily the entry-level market, Sage grew significantly through global acquisitions in the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s to become a major force in the SMB and SME space with household brands that include Sage 100 (MAS 90), Sage 500 (MAS 500), Sage 300 (Accpac), Sage X3 (Adonix), Sage 50 US (Peachtree), and additional products to round out its ERP suite.
– With 85% (or more) market share in the USA with QuickBooks, Intuit is a global leader in the entry-level accounting space. The company momentarily made a push to go upmarket but has since divested of vertical applications they acquired and seems content to focus on their strengths. It’s worth noting the success Intuit’s had with QuickBooks Enterprise which can scale up significantly from traditional QuickBooks products.
– SAP is still one of the leading forces in the tier one ERP space with mySAP and SAP All-In-One with a push into the lower end of the market in 2002 acquiring little-known TopManage which is better known today as SAP BusinessOne. SAP also launched SAP Business ByDesign in this space but has since ended development as the product was written in Microsoft Silverlight, a platform no longer available from Microsoft.
– Intacct is lesser known than some of the others on this list but they are dominating the traditional accounting software space which has been ignored by most other vendors seeking to grow into different industry segments. Unlike other vendors, Intacct focuses on a single product and is growing rapidly in many different markets such as non-profit, software and technology, business and professional services, and wholesale distribution, more.
– Founded in 2006, Xero has grown considerably posing a serious threat to Intuit in the entry-level accounting space. Xero claims 700,000 customers as of late 2016.Selecting the right ERP is not an easy task, but if you start planning from the start you will have no trouble finding an ERP system that maximizes your business. Contact us to see how our experts can help you through the process.