ERP Study 2023 Finland – A shift towards intelligent and cloud-based ERP solutions

Finnish companies are in a wave of ERP renewals, as the current systems are reaching the end of their technical life cycle and can not support companies’ business and operating models sufficiently enough. Renewed ERP systems include intelligent technologies and are hosted on cloud in an increasing extent.​

Recent years have brought surprising conflicts, continuous pandemic, inflation and with it, an increase in financial and operational uncertainty amongst almost all companies. Many business processes have been shaped and affected by these events, meaning even greater demand of adaptability for the applications supporting, streamlining, and integrating those processes. How do companies have prepared, adjusted and planned their transformation towards renewed ERP systems, and what are the factors, drivers and trends affecting to the decisions? Recently, BearingPoint Finland conducted an ERP Study 2023, aiming to answer these and other ERP landscape and ERP market related questions.​

Methodology

BearingPoint Finland carried out a comprehensive ERP study covering a total of 27 Finnish middle- and large-sized companies. Respondents participated in this study by filling in an online survey and answering to the interview questions between September and November 2022. Companies represent varying industries, ownership structures, and sizes, hence offering a varied setting for ERP landscape and ERP market analysis.​

Findings

On this page, few key findings are presented from two sections: 1) the current situation and 2) the future ERP landscape. For more detailed analysis, download the report.​

Executive summary

1) Results - Current situation

The average age of the ERP system is 12,5 years in the studied context. However, the age of the system varies a lot, as there could be less than 1 year old or over 20-year-old solutions in use. ​Around 40 % of the responded companies have a single solution, called ‘common global ERP’, whereas the rest of the companies have either business division-driven or country specific solutions.​

Our solution is a cloud version, so we will get continuous upgrades.

 

Current system landscape is fragmented in terms of the choice of hosting solution, architecture and application support model. ​

2) Results - The wave of ERP renewals

Majority of the respondents have done, are doing, or will do ERP renewal in the upcoming years, thus proving that the wave of ERP renewals is ongoing.  4 out of 5 respondents have prepared formal business case for the ERP renewal, and around half of them are approved. ​

Drivers for the renewal stem from the end of system’s technical life cycle and the lack of support for the business or operating model, making the renewal mandatory for many companies. In the most critical cases, system providers have announced the termination of the technical maintenance for their earlier ERP versions in the upcoming years, which forces companies to renew their ERP systems in a tight time frame. ​

First renew technology, then take standard processes and only then do systematic transformation of business in required areas.

 

In the future, companies are hosting their solutions in the cloud in an increasing extent, whereas the usage of service providers or own data centers are decreasing. The transition towards cloud is natural, as companies have found cloud to be the most economical and flexible hosting solution.​

Another factor affecting to the ERP systems besides costs is technological development, which has enabled new opportunities for process automation, creating better user experience, attaining valuable insights and making faster and more accurate predictions. Results state that the importance of RPA, AI, Machine Learning, and low code development platforms is increasing.

Contact our team

Kimmo Järvikangas
Head of ERP
BearingPoint Finland

Kati Kolehmainen
Senior Manager, ERP Advisory
BearingPoint Finland