Where is NetSuite (and All Traditional ERP) Getting Attacked From? Everywhere.

ERP is getting unbundled horizontally and vertically.

Here’s just a sample of all of the players staking claims to NetSuite’s module turf:

I could have tripled the logos on this map, if only there were room.

Surprisingly, there aren’t that many direct modern ERP challengers (there will be more). And there still isn’t quite enough connectivity tools that can assemble the functional areas (there’s some gap to be filled).

But in every module area NetSuite has, there are solid alternatives emerging. Each one that serves its customer better in that area reduces the advantage of one monolithic so-so solution like NetSuite.

I believe that a few of these will win by serving thier customer incredibly well, and then expanding to encompass a wide surface area in their own right. The future ERP could quite possibly look like 3–5 of these solutions, tightly integrated together. Or some other architecture entirely. I’m not sure.

But I am sure that the future ERP doesn’t look like one solution that was architected in the early 2000s, trying to do everything.

Thanks to my teammate Mary for help with this piece.