Blog: SaaS and ERP - indestructible force meets immovable object

It has always been one of the unsolved mysteries of the universe, something that our minds can’t grasp, the intellectual challenge that relates to the question: “What would happen if the indestructible force met the immovable object?”

Relating that thought to retail software and services, and coming fast over the hill is the indestructible force - the move toward Software as a Service (SaaS). Here, we’re told that businesses will be able to simply subscribe to software as a service, and therefore be up and running overnight, much as one does with internet service provision, but this time related to business applications. It sounds attractive, the approach is compelling, it can’t be resisted.

However, on the other side of this hill is the immovable object, the traditional ERP (Enterprise resource planning) project. This is the implementation of software applications into the business, including the adoption of numerous complex business processes and the spreading of the vision to a wide group of people, in different departments, with different skill sets and conflicting objectives.

Today this really is an immovable object. Projects are run by documenting a series of business process blueprints, produced from a lengthy series of workshops, discussed and eventually agreed by a group of business sponsors. This lengthy and time-consuming process is required before the software can be used, indeed before the training can start, and it’s costly and challenging for all parties.

As we know though, you can’t stop an indestructible force, so there must be a solution. Perhaps the force will simply go round the object or maybe they’ll call it a draw and settle it through penalties.

At a recent trade show, I was approached by a former US colleague visiting the UK to see what opportunities exist. He wanted to know the name of the organisation that acted on behalf of UK retailers, considering industry trends and providing solutions. In North America the National Retail Federation is the body that does this, enabling retailers to debate their approach. We don’t have an organisation like this in the UK.

So it seems to me that the answer to our question is closer to home than we think, but it requires collaboration, something that challenges our UK culture. Clearly we need standards, and a body that considers these things, to make the immovable object budge a little! Then one of the challenges of the universe may have a chance of being solved.