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Top 5 ERP Trends—What to Expect in 2025 & Beyond
In light of marketplace volatility and both imminent and ongoing supply chain disruptions, organizations across myriad industries will expect much from the enterprise resource planning (ERP) software space through 2025 and beyond. Read this latest writing from TEC analyst Predrag (PJ) Jakovljevic to learn which new and emerging ERP trends will define this enterprise software sector in the new year, from continued expansion through acquisitions to increased autonomy in artificial intelligence (AI) tools, and more.
Contents
With the US’ and EU’s latest elections in the rearview mirror, and other such events and geopolitical changes to ensue, we will likely see various supply chain disruptions across the world through 2025 and beyond. At a minimum, the ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are contributing to the ongoing challenges companies continue to face, including market volatility, rising costs and inflation, labor shortages, supply chain constraints, immigration, and more (see figure 1). We can even add impending tariffs and costly inflationary trade wars to the mix.
Figure 1. Ongoing corporate challenges (Source: NetSuite)
As a result, companies expect even more from their enterprise resource planning (ERP) software systems in battling those issues. With that said, let us review the past year once more and explore the ERP trends we can expect to emerge in the new one.
As part of this key ERP trend, AI use cases for assistance and advice will continue to expand in ERP systems, which will combine both intelligent automation and (less intelligent) robotic process automation (RPA) to automate workflows across departments towards the goal of hyperautomation. AI assistants or copilots boost efficiency by automating tasks, enhancing data reliability, and streamlining processes. These repetitive tasks include basic data entry, account reconciliations, and identifying general ledger exceptions in line with company policies.
RPA tools, typically bots, tackle front-end automation tasks like invoice processing, compliance checklists, and more, replicating human actions across various applications. Consider automating additional tasks like invoice scanning in accounts payable (AP), streamlining proof of delivery, automatic customer creation, swift workflow approvals, consistent product information updates, and more. While AI-driven workflows will be used to suggest next-best actions, improve forecasts, and adapt to changing needs in real time, truly self-driving ERP systems (or other self-driving enterprise solutions) without human involvement will not emerge anytime soon.
Additionally, we recently covered Epicor’s various acquisitions, their impact on various verticals, and the vendor’s plans to sustain its market leadership. ECI Software Solutions also had something to say in that regard. The acquired solutions often include electronic data interchange (EDI), configure price quote (CPQ), e-commerce, field service management (FSM), enterprise content management (ECM), financial planning and analysis (FP&A), and the like. Some refer to such add-on solutions as ERP “growth engines.”
Occasionally, acquisitions target legacy competitors, enabling vendors to migrate their user bases to modern cloud offerings or enter new markets. In addition, acquiring foundational technologies such as cloud integration, analytics, and AI remains an option for ERP providers, and more acquisitions of that ilk are likely to occur through 2025.
Everything from packaging to sourcing to transport to labor and beyond will be scrutinized under the ESG lens, and not only because of new and growing government mandates. Smart companies will continue to see this as an opportunity to meet customers’ desire for sustainability – no longer as a marketing ploy (greenwashing), but a true business driver.
Many governments and regulatory authorities worldwide are more willing to intervene than in the past. For instance, take the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive in Europe, which establishes “a framework for a responsible and sustainable approach to global value chains.” For its part, the new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) began replacing the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) in phases in 2024.
CSRD is an EU directive requiring companies, starting with large enterprises (more than 250 employees), to disclose detailed ESG data and extend the scope of sustainability reporting requirements. This legislation will soon extend to businesses with only 10-plus employees.
Additionally, Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards (ASRS) mandate climate-related financial disclosures aligned with international standards. Issued by the Australian Accounting Standards Board, ASRS is effective for fiscal years beginning in 2025. Along similar lines, Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) is India's framework for ESG performance disclosures, driven by the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
Other countries, including the US, UK, Japan, and Canada, are implementing similar ESG regulations. For example, California’s Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (CCDAA) mandates greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reporting across all scopes starting in 2026. As a matter of interest, California’s economy is now larger than Germany’s.
For companies trying to evade CSRD by moving production elsewhere, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is a tool introduced by the EU to put a fair price on carbon emitted during the production of carbon-intensive goods imported into the EU. It aims to prevent carbon leakage, which occurs when companies move carbon-intensive production to countries with less stringent climate policies, or when EU products are replaced by more carbon-intensive imports. CBAM will take effect from 2026 following a transitional phase from 2023 to 2025, with other regions adopting similar regulations.
Aleksandar Totovic, Principal Product Manager for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, asserts that sustainability has become the accounting of the 21st century, underpinning accountability and transparency in modern business. Another key factor shaping this ERP trend is extended producer responsibility (EPR), a regulatory approach that holds producers responsible for their products’ entire lifecycles, especially for take-back, recycling, and final disposal. This concept is gaining traction in various countries across the EU, where companies will be required to report their packaging consumption as of 2025.
Also critical will be the Digital Product Passport (DPP), a new EU directive for companies to provide detailed information about their products’ environmental impact throughout their lifecycles. This initiative, also slated for 2025, is part of the broader EU strategy to promote a circular economy and ensure that products are designed, produced, and disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner.
These regulations will impact many small-to-midsize businesses (SMBs) as well. Therefore, even SMB ERP systems will increasingly provide sustainability reporting and dashboards allowing businesses to monitor and manage their sustainable goals. Think of ERP tools to ensure lower energy usage and carbon emissions, supplier monitoring, reduced water consumption, trash minimization, compliance, and more.
This emerging concept posits that while an ERP serves as the system of record, a connected workforce solution serves as the system of action. We can also anticipate crossovers between connected workforce solutions, quality management systems (QMS), advanced planning and scheduling (APS), supply chain planning (SCP), and manufacturing execution systems (MES), whether through either an ERP core or direct interaction.
Figure 2. Next-gen production scheduling (Source: QAD)
As shown in figure 2, the value of production scheduling is often complementary in nature to other enterprise systems such as ERP, SCP, and connected workforce software. But its real value comes through in the whole picture, where ERP can feed master data for production orders, work centers, and routings into advanced scheduling.
ERP can also handle long-term tactical planning in an SCP product and publish schedules to connected workforce software on the floor in real time. Feedback from the factory floor can come from the connected workforce solution, an MES, or some other execution system for near-real-time updates and inventory positions. Of course, everything feeds back into the ERP as the system of record, making for a notable value proposition and strategy.
The next-gen scheduling combination in figure 2 is just one such integration example, which also covers newer Internet of Things (IoT) technology being used for two-way integration between traditional planning tools like ERP and the actual, physical world. Think of integration directly to shop floor assets (both hardware and software), service items, interactive warehouse labeling, and much more real-time performance monitoring enabled by IoT connectivity.
Figure 3. Priority ERP’s connectivity
Openness presupposes the ERP system is no longer (if it ever was) an organization’s one and only solution (if it ever was), being instead part of a whole host of systems, applications, devices, and channels that must communicate in a common language – somewhat akin to an orchestra that must play in harmony, with the ERP’s role being the single source of truth in real time.
But to achieve this, aspiring ERP vendors will need an underlying, flexible enterprise application platform (EAP) based on the so-called composable apps and enterprise that enable orchestration, modularity, and autonomy. Central to the composable concept is the use of microservices and lightweight APIs to add last-mile functionality to the core ERP functional scope.
Think of using public and private, or co-location clouds, or a hybrid of the two. As evidence of this “cloud repatriation” trend, we’ve seen the emergence of integration services from major cloud providers or hyperscalers like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google with Azure Arc, AWS Outposts, and Google Anthos, which aim to help clients manage applications across hybrid and on-premise environments.
For some companies, repatriation changes the balance of cost and value in on-premise, private cloud, or hybrid architectures compared to public clouds. Some recent shifts in hardware pricing and IT salaries mean public clouds aren’t necessarily a cheaper option, and one must also consider companies’ desire for greater control in terms of system customizations and granular cybersecurity and compliance.
For example, we’ve seen more customer interest in vendors’ ability to offer hybrid functionality with an on-premise solution for machine integration that connects into cloud ERP and MES capabilities to correlate and add context to plant data. Since by default, machine/work center integration must be on the edge and/or on premise, this provides manufacturers with the best of both approaches.
As for customization, companies will demand the ability to add or remove features without overhauling the entire system in a low- or no-code manner. For example, finance professionals will want to tailor their dashboards to focus on key performance indicators (KPIs).
In any case, most of the above ERP trends aim to make ERP systems easier to use and augment their human users, i.e., simplify their learning and jobs. Thus, the ERP software market will certainly be worth watching in the coming months and years.
Figure 1. Ongoing corporate challenges (Source: NetSuite)
As a result, companies expect even more from their enterprise resource planning (ERP) software systems in battling those issues. With that said, let us review the past year once more and explore the ERP trends we can expect to emerge in the new one.
1. AI Agents’ Autonomy Increases—to a Point
Several of our recent articles have tackled certain trends for both ERP and other enterprise software categories. One major development across the board for 2025 involves the further evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in terms of intelligence and autonomy, notably with the recent advent of AI agents.As part of this key ERP trend, AI use cases for assistance and advice will continue to expand in ERP systems, which will combine both intelligent automation and (less intelligent) robotic process automation (RPA) to automate workflows across departments towards the goal of hyperautomation. AI assistants or copilots boost efficiency by automating tasks, enhancing data reliability, and streamlining processes. These repetitive tasks include basic data entry, account reconciliations, and identifying general ledger exceptions in line with company policies.
RPA tools, typically bots, tackle front-end automation tasks like invoice processing, compliance checklists, and more, replicating human actions across various applications. Consider automating additional tasks like invoice scanning in accounts payable (AP), streamlining proof of delivery, automatic customer creation, swift workflow approvals, consistent product information updates, and more. While AI-driven workflows will be used to suggest next-best actions, improve forecasts, and adapt to changing needs in real time, truly self-driving ERP systems (or other self-driving enterprise solutions) without human involvement will not emerge anytime soon.
2. Expansion via Acquisitions
In 2024, the ERP software market saw significant mergers and acquisitions (M&A) aimed at enhancing vendors’ horizontal and/or vertical industry capabilities, some of which we duly covered at the time. Notably, Sage acquired Anvyl to enhance its supply chain technology solutions, while QAD acquired Redzone to expand its capabilities for connected shop floor workers and, more recently, Phenix Software for advanced scheduling tools.Additionally, we recently covered Epicor’s various acquisitions, their impact on various verticals, and the vendor’s plans to sustain its market leadership. ECI Software Solutions also had something to say in that regard. The acquired solutions often include electronic data interchange (EDI), configure price quote (CPQ), e-commerce, field service management (FSM), enterprise content management (ECM), financial planning and analysis (FP&A), and the like. Some refer to such add-on solutions as ERP “growth engines.”
Occasionally, acquisitions target legacy competitors, enabling vendors to migrate their user bases to modern cloud offerings or enter new markets. In addition, acquiring foundational technologies such as cloud integration, analytics, and AI remains an option for ERP providers, and more acquisitions of that ilk are likely to occur through 2025.
3. ESG & Sustainability-Based Accounting
Commitment to sustainability emerged as an ERP trend in recent years and will continue to gain steam in 2025. Despite the US’ incoming, fossil fuel-friendly administration, net-zero carbon footprint goals and regulations remain critical to companies worldwide. Indeed, more organizations and their supply chains will drive an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy from the C-suite down.Everything from packaging to sourcing to transport to labor and beyond will be scrutinized under the ESG lens, and not only because of new and growing government mandates. Smart companies will continue to see this as an opportunity to meet customers’ desire for sustainability – no longer as a marketing ploy (greenwashing), but a true business driver.
Many governments and regulatory authorities worldwide are more willing to intervene than in the past. For instance, take the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive in Europe, which establishes “a framework for a responsible and sustainable approach to global value chains.” For its part, the new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) began replacing the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) in phases in 2024.
CSRD is an EU directive requiring companies, starting with large enterprises (more than 250 employees), to disclose detailed ESG data and extend the scope of sustainability reporting requirements. This legislation will soon extend to businesses with only 10-plus employees.
Additionally, Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards (ASRS) mandate climate-related financial disclosures aligned with international standards. Issued by the Australian Accounting Standards Board, ASRS is effective for fiscal years beginning in 2025. Along similar lines, Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) is India's framework for ESG performance disclosures, driven by the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
Other countries, including the US, UK, Japan, and Canada, are implementing similar ESG regulations. For example, California’s Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (CCDAA) mandates greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reporting across all scopes starting in 2026. As a matter of interest, California’s economy is now larger than Germany’s.
For companies trying to evade CSRD by moving production elsewhere, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is a tool introduced by the EU to put a fair price on carbon emitted during the production of carbon-intensive goods imported into the EU. It aims to prevent carbon leakage, which occurs when companies move carbon-intensive production to countries with less stringent climate policies, or when EU products are replaced by more carbon-intensive imports. CBAM will take effect from 2026 following a transitional phase from 2023 to 2025, with other regions adopting similar regulations.
Aleksandar Totovic, Principal Product Manager for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, asserts that sustainability has become the accounting of the 21st century, underpinning accountability and transparency in modern business. Another key factor shaping this ERP trend is extended producer responsibility (EPR), a regulatory approach that holds producers responsible for their products’ entire lifecycles, especially for take-back, recycling, and final disposal. This concept is gaining traction in various countries across the EU, where companies will be required to report their packaging consumption as of 2025.
Also critical will be the Digital Product Passport (DPP), a new EU directive for companies to provide detailed information about their products’ environmental impact throughout their lifecycles. This initiative, also slated for 2025, is part of the broader EU strategy to promote a circular economy and ensure that products are designed, produced, and disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner.
These regulations will impact many small-to-midsize businesses (SMBs) as well. Therefore, even SMB ERP systems will increasingly provide sustainability reporting and dashboards allowing businesses to monitor and manage their sustainable goals. Think of ERP tools to ensure lower energy usage and carbon emissions, supplier monitoring, reduced water consumption, trash minimization, compliance, and more.
4. Frontline Connected Workers Within Nex-Gen Scheduling
Last year, we explored the so-called ERP trend of the “connected worker,” intended to break down traditional barriers between the physical and digital worlds, i.e., connect the real world with frontline workers all the way.This emerging concept posits that while an ERP serves as the system of record, a connected workforce solution serves as the system of action. We can also anticipate crossovers between connected workforce solutions, quality management systems (QMS), advanced planning and scheduling (APS), supply chain planning (SCP), and manufacturing execution systems (MES), whether through either an ERP core or direct interaction.
Figure 2. Next-gen production scheduling (Source: QAD)
As shown in figure 2, the value of production scheduling is often complementary in nature to other enterprise systems such as ERP, SCP, and connected workforce software. But its real value comes through in the whole picture, where ERP can feed master data for production orders, work centers, and routings into advanced scheduling.
ERP can also handle long-term tactical planning in an SCP product and publish schedules to connected workforce software on the floor in real time. Feedback from the factory floor can come from the connected workforce solution, an MES, or some other execution system for near-real-time updates and inventory positions. Of course, everything feeds back into the ERP as the system of record, making for a notable value proposition and strategy.
5. Easier Integration & Composability
The ongoing ERP trend of increasing modularization and ever-easier integrations will continue through 2025, leading to a “right tool for the job” approach. Businesses will replace ineffective, rigid, monolithic systems with modular, application programming interface (API)-driven solutions. Indeed, we’ve seen many cases where the solutions customers want transcend the traditional silos of enterprise software categories.The next-gen scheduling combination in figure 2 is just one such integration example, which also covers newer Internet of Things (IoT) technology being used for two-way integration between traditional planning tools like ERP and the actual, physical world. Think of integration directly to shop floor assets (both hardware and software), service items, interactive warehouse labeling, and much more real-time performance monitoring enabled by IoT connectivity.
Figure 3. Priority ERP’s connectivity
Openness presupposes the ERP system is no longer (if it ever was) an organization’s one and only solution (if it ever was), being instead part of a whole host of systems, applications, devices, and channels that must communicate in a common language – somewhat akin to an orchestra that must play in harmony, with the ERP’s role being the single source of truth in real time.
But to achieve this, aspiring ERP vendors will need an underlying, flexible enterprise application platform (EAP) based on the so-called composable apps and enterprise that enable orchestration, modularity, and autonomy. Central to the composable concept is the use of microservices and lightweight APIs to add last-mile functionality to the core ERP functional scope.
Other Noteworthy Considerations
Cloud ERP solutions have been around for 20 years or so, and cloud-first approaches will become the standard if they haven’t already, with an increase in edge computing. Still, more and more organizations will move from hyperscale public cloud computing to multi-cloud and other strategies, including some on-premise workflows.
Think of using public and private, or co-location clouds, or a hybrid of the two. As evidence of this “cloud repatriation” trend, we’ve seen the emergence of integration services from major cloud providers or hyperscalers like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google with Azure Arc, AWS Outposts, and Google Anthos, which aim to help clients manage applications across hybrid and on-premise environments.
For some companies, repatriation changes the balance of cost and value in on-premise, private cloud, or hybrid architectures compared to public clouds. Some recent shifts in hardware pricing and IT salaries mean public clouds aren’t necessarily a cheaper option, and one must also consider companies’ desire for greater control in terms of system customizations and granular cybersecurity and compliance.
For example, we’ve seen more customer interest in vendors’ ability to offer hybrid functionality with an on-premise solution for machine integration that connects into cloud ERP and MES capabilities to correlate and add context to plant data. Since by default, machine/work center integration must be on the edge and/or on premise, this provides manufacturers with the best of both approaches.
As for customization, companies will demand the ability to add or remove features without overhauling the entire system in a low- or no-code manner. For example, finance professionals will want to tailor their dashboards to focus on key performance indicators (KPIs).
In any case, most of the above ERP trends aim to make ERP systems easier to use and augment their human users, i.e., simplify their learning and jobs. Thus, the ERP software market will certainly be worth watching in the coming months and years.
Key Takeaways: ERP Trends 2025
- AI Agents and Automation: ERP systems will leverage AI tools and RPA for hyperautomation. These technologies enhance efficiency by automating repetitive tasks, but while AI-driven workflows will offer real-time adaptability and suggestions, fully autonomous ERP systems remain a distant goal.
- Mergers and Acquisitions Drive Expansion: ERP vendors are expanding their capabilities through acquisitions. These often target complementary technologies like e-commerce and financial planning, as well as legacy competitors to modernize their offerings and explore new markets.
- Sustainability and ESG: ERP systems will increasingly incorporate ESG features. Driven by stricter regulations globally, companies are using these tools to achieve sustainability goals, monitor supply chain impact, and comply with mandates like the EU’s CSRD and DPP initiatives.
- Connected Workforce and Advanced Scheduling: ERP systems are linking to connected workforce solutions to integrate real-time updates from the factory floor. This approach bridges planning, scheduling, and execution systems, enhancing production efficiency and data accuracy.
- Composable and Easily Integrated Systems: Modular, API-driven ERP solutions are replacing rigid, monolithic systems. These allow businesses to adopt a “right tool for the job” approach, enabling seamless integration with IoT devices, assets, and other enterprise applications.
- Cloud and Hybrid Deployments: While cloud ERP continues to dominate, companies are exploring hybrid and multi-cloud strategies. Factors like cost, customizability, and edge computing are driving interest in deployments that combine on-premise workflows and cloud solutions.
- Focus on Customization: ERP systems are evolving to offer low- or no-code customization options, making them more user-friendly and adaptable. Tailored dashboards and specific features empower users to optimize their workflows without system overhauls.
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About the Author
Predrag Jakovljevic | Principal ERP Analyst
Predrag (PJ) Jakovljevic focuses on the enterprise applications market. He has over 20 years of industrial experience within the discrete manufacturing sector, including the machinery and equipment, automotive, construction and engineering, and electronics ...