ERP market reaches saturation point

NEWS Enterprise resource planning (ERP) has reached saturation point, and companies now need to look at application integration to finish the job of delivering ecommerce, according to a study commissioned by Forte Software. The research - carried out by Spikes Cavell - found that half of the IT users surveyed found ERP difficult to implement, and only 30 per cent would recommend deployment of an ERP system. Development house Forte said this opens the door for enterprise application integration (EAI). The company claims its structured approach to EAI will let companies integrate their existing and future business processes, rather than molding their processes to fit an ERP installation. "Companies may be saying, we've gone as far as we can with the ERP vendors," explained Kevin Withnall, analyst with Spikes Cavell. "They told customers they'd provide all the integration, and perhaps that hasn't worked. Maybe organisations are returning to a best of breed approach."