1.Could you list a few major trends driving the market and how are they encouraging a shift towards increased cloud adoptions and intelligent systems?
In last 2-3 years, there are absolute changes in adoption of Digital solution whether it is ERP/ any business solution. Mind set has changed almost 360 degree, Earlier trend was to invest years on years for establishment time and money both; For single implementation we were expend years and years on development of ERP. We were used to predict size of hardware on the basis of business growth which was usually 5- 10 percent YOY.

But now, no business is ready to invest time, growth can be exponential/can't be predicted.

Every company wants agile approach to get outcome in maximum 1-3 months time and improvement will be in continuation. Also in terms of investment they are looking of Opex model instead of Capex. This leads to the adoption of Cloud because 50-70 percent of the ERP/Application cost is of Hardware. Requirement of having a system that can be scalable to any level, Open to integrating with any software/ application. Considering the above fact adoption of SAS Cloud has increased tremendously. The concept is simple, no one wants to invest in re-invention of the wheels; And no one want to wait 4-5 years to recover ROI.

Considering both the facts, Choice is SAS based cloud ERP is increasing day by day and this is the future of ERP. This has resolve both the issue
a.Sizing of Hardware/Infra
b.Agile Approach top on this

This will also resolve the issue of resource availability which generally NON-IT companies are facing during & after implementation of ERP/ Digital Solution.

2.Why are some businesses hesitant to embrace ERP implementation? How can this problem be solved?
As per my understanding, all the large & midsize business has already adopted standard ERP. If they have still hesitant in adoption, then it means they have to immediately work on this. For any business ERP is the foundation of digitization. All the operations are managed & tracked with it. ERP should be always present as the foundation and at bottom of digital

architecture which provides rules, data, operational flow to preceding applications whether it is CRM,

PLM, SCM, WEB solution, BI, industry 4.0, MES, API’s and others.

My advice to those businesses that are still struggling to finalise right ERP is
A. Make detail document of your business flow.
•List of Document which you are using for the purpose of internal reference/report/Issuance.
•Complexity of process/flow.
•Problem Area
•All available Software,Integration and so on

B.Evaluate Standard solution in consideration of current business process, Concern, Reports, Scalability, Integration approach, Support cost.
C.Understand how solution will scalable/tunned based on future needs
D.Requirement should be finite.
E.Make a team who understand Agile approach.
F.Select partner who has also understanding on Agility.

3.What are the aspects that must be looked into when choosing the right ERP partner in your opinion?
•Partner should understand business process of your kind.
•Software understanding is available with all partners but we should focus to those partners who understand business
•Interview/Talk with consultants, Project manager who will work with you on your project.
•These are the important area along with partners financial position & their existence in future for expansion/support.

4.Could you specify some of the largest challenges in the path of a successful ERP implementation in the Indian mid-sized market context?
1.the biggest challenge is related to change management, This is the most critical and challenging area.
2.Not having clarity of project objective, Problem area
3.Businesses are looking everything should come ours from ERP, Which leads to massive customization and leads vast maintenance costs. Sometimes this will also lead to the failure of the project

4.No/Almost Zero involvement of Top management. ERP is exactly a soft replica of your business, so it is mandatory to have the involvement of the TOP Management and the Senior business team.
5.Challenge related to involvement/lack of agile resources.
6.Lack of documentation and finalization of requirements on time.

7.Most of the implementation faced challenges because of not providing information on time, Not finalizing requirements, Delay/Not providing sign-off etc.
8.According to you, what kind of skill sets individuals should develop to be an ERP experts?

In my view, Instead of mastering software/ application one can invest time in understanding actual business flow, Business problems, Business opportunities, Understanding of ROI, Agile and more.

5.How will the ERP market of India turn out to be in the long run?
Indian market is currently balanced with both standard ERP & customized Small ERP vendors. This is a win-win situation for both, Customised ERP( Small ERP vendor)can leverage technology to work on a standard solution; whereas standard ERP can scale their market through providing affordable and cost-effective solutions to acquire a larger share of the markets.

There is huge potential for SAS-based(cloud)ERP because there is a vast GAP of adoption and availability of solutions in comparison with another side of the world.

There is huge adoption of SAS-based/cloud ERP in Europe, America, EMEA. Also, demand is shifted from Laptop/desktop to mobile, Solution should be easily available/accessible through Mobile. Having all the solutions available like CRM, BI, Mobile, App integration available for the third party, Ability to deliver demand of industry 4.0. MES( Easy integration)and various other solutions. In short, only those ERP will be in the long run who are adaptive, Open for integration, available in SAS, have Vertical solutions and Easy availability of resources.