IDC Link calls Unit4 ERPx a “welcome addition” as a “modern, modular ERP product”

We recently announced the launch of ERPx – our next-generation platform, designed to equip people-based organizations transform their operations for the challenges of the modern world.

We’re happy to tell you that ERPx has recently been mentioned in an IDC Link commentary, Unit4 Announces ERPx, a Modern and Modular ERP System, which paints a vivid context for the launch and provides a fresh perspective on the urgent need for modern ERP solutions across industry.

What does the perfect ERP look like at the close of 2020?

According to IDC, the pandemic has triggered an inflection point in the way that organizations view and manage their operations. Shifting us all rapidly from a model of work based on a single base of operations and provoking an urgent need for flexibility and “anytime, anywhere” applications. It’s simply no longer possible to tolerate the tangle of cumbersome legacy applications that have been customized to death, lengthy, semi-automated processes, and endlessly proliferating spreadsheets.

Forward-looking businesses have realized the need for ERP systems that let them fully digitize their operations. And this need requires a step change not just in the feature functionality ERP platforms provide, but in the way that they are built from the ground up. Some of the features that have gone from being options or novelties to necessities in this new working reality include:

SaaS and cloud applications: these protocols empower organizations and their people to work securely anywhere – as well as helping to minimize the hidden cost component of their IT infrastructure.

Automated workflows: the need for efficiency and speed in completing routine tasks requires a shift from semi-automated processes to near fully-automated processes. Allowing staff to focus on value added work and only intervene when exception management is required.

AI and machine learning: help steadily reduce the exception management component over time by intelligently updating automation protocols as new data becomes available – as well as providing valuable insight at the strategic business level.

Microservices architecture: resolves the problem of the “ERP monolith” by basing the system around a collection of loosely coupled services that can be deployed individually or together for greater flexibility according to business capabilities and strategic needs.

Application programming interfaces: streamline data flow between applications, allowing for greater automation and a degree of customizability.

Where does ERPx fit in this picture?

The IDC Link describes ERPx as part of a new wave of modern, modular ERP solutions that have emerged to meet the challenges and requirements of organizations working to rapidly accelerate their digital transformations in order to create new operating models for the new normal:

Unit4 ERPx is an example of the new modular ERP application with a focus on the people experience across an organization. The product covers financial processes, time and billing, HR processes, and analytics and operations, so organizations can scale as needed much quicker than in the past. This is done by Unit4's native cloud microservices platform, which provides an anywhere, anytime use for the organization. The Unit4 ERPx cloud platform also enables the organization and partners to add-in additional process extensions or integration of other areas with low-code toolkits, which is a quick answer to customizing a process without depending upon the IT department.

We’re also very pleased to say that IDC have singled out the ability of our new platform to remove much of the burden of day-to-day admin from the people using the system.

We firmly believe that the advances in ERP technology shouldn’t just be used to increase efficiency and make businesses more resilient – they should be used to make working environments (wherever those might be) more pleasant, productive, and engaging. We think of this as creating a better People Experience – and this will be just as important as operational efficiency mid- and post-pandemic as companies face an ever more competitive talent market.

We’re particularly proud of our new “instant apps” capability – powered by new machine learning technology. This empowers users to evolve their business’s capability in real time with tools that are endlessly customizable and configurable with low- and no-code interfaces.

Beyond this ERPx has been created in accordance with all relevant industry standards, enabling customers to use it out of the box without any disruption in any people-centric industry.