The Ability to Make Software Changes Key Consideration in Future ERP Selection

VICTORIA, British Columbia and IRVING, Texas, December 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

UNIT4 Business Software's parent company UNIT4, the world's leading provider of business software for Businesses Living IN Change (BLINC™), today announced further first findings of a new international research project undertaken by Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC) which surveyed 307 business managers and professionals from a range of industries about their ERP and enterprise applications' ability to support business change.

The level of business change expected by business managers over the next five years is significant. More than one third (35 percent) expect their company to make acquisitions/divestitures, 39 percent expect to change business model, 57 percent expect to expand into new lines of business, 18 percent expect to be involved in a merger, 34 percent anticipate a reorganization/restructuring and 45 percent expect to make other significant changes. When asked how often the financial impact of re-architecting or adjusting the ERP system is considered when the organization is reviewing an important business opportunity, 62 percent of business managers responded always/most of the time. 81 percent cited the ability to make changes more easily, cost effectively and with less disruption as "very important" in their ERP selection criteria.

"Businesses of all sizes are undergoing unprecedented levels of change-they're more aware of the importance of planning for future change than ever before, having learnt from problems encountered previously," said P.J. Jakovljevic, Principal Analyst at TEC. "The ability of ERP systems to handle this level of business change has been raised as one of the most important considerations when selecting systems, and one that vendors cannot ignore."

"Our customers have always demanded the ability to easily make changes in the Agresso Business World ERP system and we designed the system with this in mind," said Ton Dobbe, VP Product Management at UNIT4. "In this survey, half of CXO level respondents felt that the challenge of making changes in SAP, Oracle or Microsoft has prevented cost cutting and/or growth very often or at least half of the time. Agresso's VITA architecture brings a unique value proposition to businesses that is unmatched in the ERP world. It enables executives to become operational faster at lower cost, and without the dependency on external IT consultants to support it. Its design simplicity means users are self-sufficient in its modification, so companies can respond instantaneously to change. Despite their monopoly, today's 'big ERP' systems are not providing businesses with the architectural agility necessary to support businesses adequately in today's environment."

An infographic illustrating these research results is available to download.

About UNIT4

UNIT4 is a global business software and services company aimed at helping dynamic public sector, and commercial services organisations to embrace change simply, quickly and cost effectively in a market sector it calls 'Businesses Living IN Change' (BLINC)™. The Group incorporates a number of the world's leading change embracing software brands including Agresso Business World, our flagship ERP suite for mid-sized services intensive organizations and Coda, our best-of-class financial management software.

With operations in 17 European countries, as well as 7 countries across North America, Asia Pacific and Africa and sales activities in several other countries, its revenue was €421.7 million in 2010. UNIT4 is headquartered in Sliedrecht, the Netherlands and has over 4,000 employees. It is listed on Euronext Amsterdam and is included in the Amsterdam Midcap Index (AMX).

For more information on UNIT4 or any of its operating companies, please visit the website at http://www.unit4.com or follow us on Twitter @UNIT4_Group. Alternatively please contact:

Emma (Hoyle) Keates
Group PR Manager, UNIT4
+44(0)1423-537977
[email protected]
Twitter: @emmajkeates

SOURCE UNIT4 Business Software