New Enterprise Software? Can It Be?

How Expansive Can We Imagine? 

 

A major theme I have been reinforcing with major enterprise software vendors lately is that they need to quit thinking of systems in an age of constraints.  When many of these firms were first launched, disk storage was expensive and slow. Computer memory was also expensive and slow.  Likewise, processing windows, bandwidth and many other technical limitations constrained the quality and velocity of information in businesses. 

 

Those constraints have continued to melt away.  But vendors still think with a constrained mindset.

Don't believe me?  PC Magazine (October 2, 2007 -- "Storage: From Highway Robbery to Runaway Bargain") has a great graphic showing the phenomenal cost reduction in data storage since 1981.  The bottom line: cost per megabyte has declined from $1000 to .002¢ (see below) 

In a September 10, 2007 Computerworld article ("Everything Must Stay!"), the author and others challenge readers to imagine what opportunities exist should a firm utilize all of the information it has and will collect.  If data is not purged, discarded or otherwise lost, then new opportunities (and by extension, new challenges) may present themselves. 

 

For example, imagine how much richer your business intelligence systems would be if they could detect seasonal trends beyond just the last few years.  What if you could correlate customer spending habits based on weather patterns that go back 10, 15 or maybe 20 years?  It certainly isn't that the cost of data storage will be the issue but rather it's the ability of an organization and its software vendors to identify new and greater uses for information. 

 

Taking a different and expansive view of technology would suggest that smart software vendors should look at more than simple transaction data to complete a richer view of knowledge that business decision-makers need and require.  Again, all the old arguments about IT constraints just aren't valid anymore.

I really am tired of reviewing the same old, tired and predictive functionality in today's ERP solutions. It's not new and it's not advancing the realm of businees (not technical) innovation. I want ERP II and this time it must be business (not accounting transaction) oriented, expansive and rich with data beyond the enterprise. Will vendors ever deliver this?