50 Years of Staying True

About this issue

Manufacturing experience meets a changing ERP landscape

What gives an ERP platform lasting relevance when technology, operating models, and customer expectations keep changing? ERP News Magazine Issue 59, April 2026, approaches that question through a manufacturing milestone and a broader examination of enterprise collaboration. The cover features Dusty Alexander, CEO and President of Global Shop Solutions, as the company marks 50 years in business. Alongside that conversation, the issue considers how financial intelligence, partner expertise, security, and connected workflows can bring enterprise systems closer to everyday decisions.

The editorial framework connects the quarter’s focus on collaboration across people, platforms, and intelligence with April’s emphasis on the service economy. Customer experience depends on more than digital interfaces: reliable answers about availability, deliveries, costs, and service require operational information that people can access and use with confidence.

Executive Perspectives

Dusty Alexander describes the long-term thinking behind Global Shop Solutions, founded by his father, Dick Alexander, in 1976. He connects family ownership and a consistent manufacturing focus with investment in product development, training, support, and direct customer relationships. His discussion of the Genii platform places AI inside familiar manufacturing workflows, including document extraction, accounts payable automation, sales order entry, operational questions, and proactive alerts. The central argument is that innovation should improve practical shop-floor work while protecting reliability.

Lasse Kalkar, CEO and Co-Founder, and Anita Koimur, COO and Co-Founder of LiveFlow, explain the thinking behind Flow, an AI-native ERP for finance. They describe a platform that brings accounting, consolidation, and financial planning together around continuously updated data. Multi-entity operations, intercompany eliminations, flexible reporting dimensions, and approval controls are central to their approach. Their vision is for finance teams to spend less time assembling historical information and more time supporting current business decisions.

Peyton Burch, Vice President of Channel Sales at Martus Solutions, examines how ERP partnerships create value beyond software distribution. He emphasizes integration depth, predictable partner economics, training, shared commitments, and advisory expertise. Financial planning becomes an opportunity for partners to connect ERP information with budgeting, governance, and strategic decisions throughout the year.

David Zimmerman, VP of Product and Solutions at Opkey, considers how frequent cloud updates change release management. His discussion of Release Advisor focuses on understanding business impact before testing begins, mapping updates to configurations and usage, and prioritizing change according to risk. Release intelligence becomes a shared responsibility across IT, quality assurance, and business teams.

Ivan Mans, Co-Founder and Board Member at SecurityBridge, discusses AI-assisted SAP security analysis, explainable recommendations, and continuous monitoring. He draws a clear boundary around current capabilities: AI supports analysis and prioritization, while remediation decisions remain under human oversight. Auditability, context, and careful treatment of sensitive system information remain essential.

Vic Chynoweth, CEO of Tempo Software, addresses the gap between strategic investment and delivery. He advocates frequent portfolio reviews, realistic capacity planning, and scenario analysis. His interview also considers how organizations will govern execution as AI agents undertake more work, making continued alignment with authorized strategy increasingly consequential.

Analysis and Industry Developments

Göksel Sanbay, Managing Partner of GUMA Business Solutions, examines how IFS supports customization in project-based and make-to-order industries through connected planning, configuration, and operational management. ERP News’ editorial articles connect ERP data with consistent customer interactions and describe an emerging coordination role across sales, operations, finance, and service. Kerridge Commercial Systems similarly explores how data visibility supports customer satisfaction.

Deva Rajamohan of Microsoft discusses Dynamics 365 Customer Service and Microsoft’s reported Leader recognition in the Q1 2026 Forrester Wave. The contribution examines AI agents, shared customer context, knowledge management, and collaboration, with customer examples from Visa, Lufthansa Cargo, and Rheem. Caleb Finch of QAD | Redzone considers how agentic AI can extend manufacturing ERP from recording events toward supporting and executing responses, while stressing use-case evaluation and data governance.

Melanie Karunaratne of IFS argues for software pricing linked to operational footprint rather than user counts. Salesforce’s contribution explores government leaders’ reported adoption of AI agents and their expectations for workforce and service changes. Jim Endres, Regional Account Director at Aptean, uses illustrative transportation scenarios to explain how connected AI could coordinate maintenance, routing, compliance, and disruption responses; these scenarios are not presented as measured customer results.

The news section covers Oracle Cloud Federal Financials joining the U.S. Treasury’s financial management marketplace; Aptean’s Equipment Dealer Management System; Salesforce’s collaboration with NVIDIA; IFS Industrial Value Pricing; Syspro’s announced CEO succession to Leanne Taylor; New Mexico Military Institute’s selection of Ellucian; and CGI’s strategic agreement with AWS. These reports describe announced products, partnerships, leadership changes, and modernization plans, rather than proving that every anticipated benefit has already been delivered.

Customer Stories

Henkel’s SAP customer story describes a migration to SAP HANA Cloud to address scalability and support complex applications. It reports migrating 9 TB in approximately 15 hours over a weekend, with business continuity maintained, and a subsequently operating data landscape of 16 TB. Promotion calculations previously taking days are reported to take minutes. Further AI-enabled database capabilities remain plans or experiments.

Pandora’s Salesforce story connects digital commerce, service, and loyalty. It reports 60% autonomous case deflection and a 10% improvement in net promoter score with agent-first service. Its Clara service agent handles routine enquiries, while Gemma, a personal shopping agent, is being tested in selected markets; anticipated conversion improvements should therefore be distinguished from achieved service results.

Always Affordable, Always Available Locksmith LTD describes replacing disconnected field-service, spreadsheet, and accounting tools with Odoo. Integrated helpdesk, dispatch, inventory, sales, and invoicing improve coordination and reduce billing gaps. National Account Manager Lee Alderman estimates an efficiency improvement of 30–35%; further external AI integration is a next-stage initiative.

CGI’s NGinfra story addresses shared AI and quantum readiness across six Dutch infrastructure operators. The work establishes assessment, a roadmap, and collaboration around resilience, optimization, and quantum-safe security. Its significance is coordinated preparation and capability building, rather than evidence that scalable quantum computing is already operational throughout the infrastructure network.

Together, these contributions present ERP progress as a combination of dependable foundations, usable information, and accountable action. Long-term customer understanding remains relevant even as AI changes how systems interpret events and help organizations respond.