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2015 is going to be a year of transition and change for ERP. The days of the slow-moving ERP ecosystem are over – and that’s a good thing for CIOs and IT teams who identify the trends and challenges ahead of time.

Here are the 3 biggest technology trends to look out for in 2015. I see these as opportunities, so I offer tips and solutions for each.

ERP and Cloud SaaS (News - Alert)

First and foremost is “Moving ERP to the SaaS Model”. There are two obstacles slowing this down. The level of integration between modules, in ERP, presents a huge challenge. In ERP, every transaction impacts every other module within a company. For example, when you create a sales order in ERP, at that exact moment, the ERP knows that there is a new demand; the warehouse knows that it needs to ship from stock; finance knows it will impact revenues and so on and so forth. 

There is a real time impact, which is tough for a SaaS ERP to keep up with. The on-premises ERP model that most of us currently use has created a high standard of quality. That’s the beauty of ERP. Moving to the SaaS model means retaining the excellent integration of your vital modules, and you need to sustain the integration of your external systems. SaaS and synchronization aren’t natural friends.

The next obstacle on our journey to the ERP cloud is the level of customization in ERP systems. When implementing an ERP system, first you have the vendor code. This code is not usable until it is configured. Once it is properly configured, it is customized by IT teams to fit their company’s needs. Creating a multi-tenant instance of your ERP system, with its custom code, and all of your users accessing the same code base – with all this in the cloud is a huge challenge.

The key here is that just moving data to the cloud doesn’t make it SaaS. SAP (News - Alert), Oracle and the other ERP vendors will continue to innovate and determine the best route to the ERP SaaS model in 2015.

I suggest that companies consider pilot programs and move a business unit that isn’t currently on your ERP system. Create KPIs for a successful implementation and create your first ERP SaaS system. Start small and learn.

Big Data Drives Simplified Business Processes

ERP creates a lot of data. ERP systems collect a lot of data and big data is a huge technology trend. When it comes to big data, everyone sounds like the Nike slogan – “Just do it!” – without telling you why. What’s the ROI? 

In most cases, companies have a big data warehouse that handles all of the records and information that the company creates. So why do you need to jump on the ERP big data trend? 

What Can Big Data Do For You

The million dollar question that we all need to ask is, “What can big data do for me.” The goal of the match between big data and ERP is the simplification of business processes. After analyzing your big data, determine what things you are not doing. What business processes can you simplify? Do that iteratively, constantly analyzing the things you do and don’t do in your system, and project it back to the business processes you have deployed so they will reflect only things you do in a much more sufficient manner.

Mobile Trends

As you know, everything under the sun is moving to mobile. The same goes for ERP as well. I suggest we focus on the places where mobile can have the biggest impact on our businesses and ERP systems. A good place to start is transactions, which are highly integrated into your ERP system. Transactions that are a part of a much bigger business process are prime candidates to move to mobile. Big impact on your business food chain? Mobilize it!

You can’t move everything to mobile in 2015, so prioritize your mobile ERP moves.

Frequent ERP Changes in 2015

If you look at all three of these trends, you end up with one super-trend for ERP in 2015: Expect more frequent changes in ERP systems. Be prepared.

Mati Cohen is the CTO of Panaya. He has been with Panaya since its inception and is responsible for driving the company's innovation, product strategy, and technologies.