ERP: The AC/DC of the Software World

Aside from family and friends I have two great loves in life - ERP and music. (Invite me to your dinner parties i'm a hoot).

As a kid I fell in love with AC/DC the first time my older brother played me 'Touch Too Much' from 'Highway to Hell'. In 1982 as a 12 year old I saw AC/DC and Y&T at the Birmingham NEC and several decades later i took my young son to see them when they played in Dallas, TX. I live not too far from Bon Scott's birthplace of Kirriemuir where according to trip advisor the number 1 thing to do is visit his statue: https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractions-g551908-Activities-Kirriemuir_Angus_Scotland.html

AC/DC are so unhip, so uncool that they are uber-hip and uber-cool. They have sold more records than Madonna and Mariah Carey. Their 2020 album PowerUp was one of the fastest selling albums of the year.

Their critics say that their music is simplistic, boring and repetitive and that all their songs sound the same. Angus Young famously once said "I'm sick and tired of people saying that we put out 11 albums that sound exactly the same. In fact, we've put out 12 albums that sound exactly the same."

AC/DC played rock n roll when others were playing glam rock and prog rock. They played rock n roll through the disco era, through punk, through post punk and new wave. They played rock n roll in t-shirts and jeans while hair metal bands wore spandex and tassels. They played rock n roll through the grunge years, through britpop, through EDM through pop-punk (don't get me started).........

ERP is the AC/DC of the software world. It's so old fashioned, so outdated, so boring, so yesterday and apparently no-one is interested in spending money on it. Yet it is a $40 billion market and Gartner has taken nearly 3500 inquiries on the subject of ERP in the first three months of 2021.

Like AC/DC ERP hasn't really changed in nearly 50 years. (Interesting that AC/DC formed the same year that SAP released R1 and Highway to Hell came out the same year as R2). It still incorporates elements of FMS, HCM, EAM and Manufacturing and Operations.

You may or may not know that ERP is a term that was coined by Gartner. We've had ERP 2.0, Postmodern ERP and Composable ERP, but it is still ERP. ERP doesn't try to be cool because it doesn't need to be. In fact i would go so far as to say that not only is ERP AC/DC, ERP is Malcolm Young and Cliff Williams of AC/DC. Stands at the back of the stage, unassuming, not trying to hog the limelight, occasionally walks up the microphone to sing and then walks back again. But what a rhythm section.

ERP is that. While your CRM lead singer and your Analytics lead guitarist get the attention and the adoration, ERP just keeps chugging along, but take it away and you're not left with much of a band.

Yep. ERP is Malcolm and Cliff cool.