Return to Earth

In my last post I said that I believe that every ERP system would eventually become a cloud-based system. With one exception…

It struck me that while we are pursuing a new system infrastructure in the ERP world where everything is being moved up into the cloud (servers and data storage somewhere on the ground!) my children are downloading apps to their powerful smartphones.

Not only my children, but me and my staff as well.

These apps really are full-blown applications which link to a data source over an internet connection.

One of the CRM applications that we supply and has been a front-runner as a web based system has just released their iPhone and tablet app.

It is strange to think that within the ERP world developers are rushing to create a fully web-based non-local system in the cloud while the future, as determined by iPhone, is to put the application in your hand or on your pad.

So don’t be surprised, or rather expect, that as soon as you have safely moved to a cloud-based application where nothing is stored or run on your local device it all changes. But for the good – if any of the recent apps that I come across and their intuitive designs are anything to go by!

This then raises the question about when we will see desktop apps as this is all we need to complete the picture and enable us to do a 50 line journal entry or a two page invoice.

I look forward to the day when you simply download and install the “sales order applet” from iTunes or the android market!