ERP for SMEs

About this issue

ERP for SMEs: From Complexity to Clarity

How can small and medium-sized enterprises scale without adding unnecessary complexity? ERP News Magazine Issue 51, April 2025, explores that question through cloud ERP, integration, embedded finance, cybersecurity, and practical AI. The issue connects technology choices with the operational realities of growing businesses: limited resources, fragmented data, customer expectations, and the need for dependable information.

Its interviews, analysis, announcements, and customer accounts show that modern ERP is becoming a platform for collaboration and continuous improvement. They also underline the importance of implementation expertise, secure operations, and clear distinctions between proven results and future ambitions.

Executive Perspectives on Security and Embedded Payments

Gaurav Singh, Senior Manager of SAP Security at Under Armour, and Juan Pablo Perez-Etchegoyen, Chief Technology Officer at Onapsis, examine gaps in ERP protection. Singh argues that access controls, audits, and compliance do not replace vulnerability and threat management. Perez-Etchegoyen explains how application complexity creates blind spots and why cloud migration retains customer security responsibilities. Their joint Q&A emphasizes coordinated teams, continuous security practices, and incident preparedness.

Greg Cohen, CEO of Fortis, discusses embedded payments as part of business software workflows. He attributes the company's reported twelvefold expansion since 2020 to its technology, software partnerships, and vertical specialization. The interview considers accounts receivable automation, mobile acceptance, and prospective AI applications, alongside investment from Audax Private Equity and Lovell Minnick Partners. International expansion remains under evaluation rather than a list of completed market launches.

Cloud ERP, Integration, and SME Growth

Dusty Alexander, President and CEO of Global Shop Solutions, presents five priorities for manufacturing performance: responsive scheduling, customer efficiency, tailored workflows, operational speed, and ecommerce. Named examples illustrate how ERP can connect production decisions with service quality.

Jeremy Larsen, Acumatica's Vice President of Product Management for Construction and Professional Services, reviews industry capabilities in 2025 R1. Manufacturing scheduling, distribution catalog controls, commerce integration, construction billing, and resource planning reflect the needs of distinct business models. Lisa Schwarz, Senior Director of Global Product Marketing at Oracle NetSuite, describes 2025.1 enhancements spanning natural-language analytics, support search, narrative reporting, predictive models, and configurable generative AI.

Priority's integration guide compares point-to-point connections, middleware, APIs, cloud infrastructure, and integration platforms. Its practical focus is consistent data across finance, CRM, HR, warehouses, and supply chains. NTT DATA Business Solutions discusses GROW with SAP and includes Calca Solutions' reported 100-day public-cloud transition. Alligator Infosoft considers why SMEs move away from disconnected applications, while Denis Wanke, Senior Growth Manager at Solaris, explores embedded banking, reconciliation, payments, and new revenue opportunities for ERP providers.

AI, Identity, and Operational Resilience

SAP's identity article outlines a bring-your-own-identity initiative with a staged pilot and rollout roadmap. An Infosys contribution presents Professor Mohanbir Sawhney of Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management on traditional, generative, and agentic AI. His agent-to-agent vision depends on governance, secure data exchange, domain knowledge, and human oversight.

Mark Brewer, Vice President for Service Industries at IFS, discusses industrial AI with perspectives from Michael Potts, Executive Vice President at ACCO Engineered Systems. Scheduling, flexible workforces, knowledge generation, and intelligent assets shape the service-management discussion. Kevin Clemons, delaware's Data Architect and Utilities Practice Analytics & Reporting Lead, examines automated scoring and executive performance dashboards. Robyn Coward, Life Sciences Director at QAD, addresses supplier diversity, inventory planning, and supply chain visibility, including ExpanScience's experience with QAD Digital Supply Chain Planning.

Industry News and Ecosystem Developments

Priority reports TEC recognition, with its overall result described as a tie for first. Rootstock announces its Spring 2025 release, and Evergreen brings High Touch Technologies' Acumatica practice into i-Tech Support under Pine Services Group. Sage opens its Atlanta headquarters and Discovery Center, while Infosys extends its collaboration with AIB.

Infor introduces Velocity Suite for process diagnosis, automation, and optimization, including a customer account from Xpress Boats. Acumatica reports G2 and CRN recognition. Unit4 shares PAC research on nonprofit data access and transformation needs; BGSF and SISSCORP announce support for Texas higher-education reporting through Workday Student. SEIDOR connects quantum computing and art with Libby Heaney at Sónar+D, and Capgemini and ISAI launch an €80 million venture fund. These items retain their original publication context.

Customer Stories: Applying Technology to Business Needs

Boca Terry implemented Acumatica Retail Edition with i-Tech Support after struggling with disconnected systems and an earlier NetSuite selection. The account describes automated orders, BigCommerce connectivity, financial visibility, and improved customer information. The owner's estimate of previously missed sales is not treated as audited recovered revenue or a guaranteed saving.

Sencon worked with Aspera Solutions on a three-month Epicor Kinetic Warehouse implementation. Handheld scanning, shipment labels, and cycle counting improved warehouse workflows. Operations Director Rob Young reports a 67% improvement in pick/putaway rates; the underlying comparison also involves a smaller team. The story reinforces the importance of explaining data and processes to employees.

Honda Motor Europe Logistics selected delaware for a five-year program to harmonize siloed systems into an integrated SAP landscape. Logistics, aftermarket processes, planning, customs, master data, and security form the roadmap. The account describes design-stage work and intended benefits, rather than a completed migration.

Making Science adopted SAP S/4HANA Public Edition and SAP SuccessFactors with SEIDOR to unify international information and standardize processes. The case reports fewer repetitive tasks, real-time strategic information, and qualitative efficiency gains, without quantified financial returns.

An unnamed Australian superannuation fund engaged Lánluas to configure TechnologyOne, develop internal capability, and support ongoing operations. Work included financials, budgeting, analytics, interfaces, and Datamation invoice processing. Its reported extraction accuracy above 99% is a provider claim. Across these stories, the issue returns to a consistent lesson: ERP value depends on fitting systems, expertise, and adoption to business needs.