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Unit4 Espouses Next-Gen Cloud ERP at X4U Conference
Specializing in ERP for service-oriented businesses, Unit4 offers a low-code platform incorporating the latest technology. Read this introduction to their offerings.
Contents
Unit4 is going full steam ahead in its quest to become a provider of true cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for people-centric businesses, i.e., service businesses with no major physical material management needs. Traditional manufacturing-oriented ERP systems are generally not suited well for people-centric businesses, and that is exactly where Unit4 excels.
Since it was taken private by Advent International in 2014, the vendor has undergone considerable transformation to become one of the largest providers of services ERP Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions in the mid-market. Mike Ettling (see Figure 1), formerly the President of SAP Successfactors, a leading provider of cloud human capital management (HCM) SaaS solutions, became Unit4 CEO in mid-2019.
Figure 1. Mike Ettling at Unit4 X4U
At the conference, Ettling unveiled Unit4 ERPx, the vendor’s upcoming next-generation cloud ERP software platform optimized for several service industry segments. Unit4 ERPx evolved out of the current Unit4 ERP 7 platform (formerly Agresso Business World [ABW]). The new cloud ERP software release is slated for general availability (GA) in March 2021 or so. As Figure 2 depicts, Unit4 ERPx is built on the following three pillars:
These three pillars are intended to make Unit4 ERPx software the right fit for targeted organizations in professional services, higher education, the public sector, and the non-profit sector.
There will be many out-of-the-box configurations aimed at substantially reducing the costs of going live. In addition to core ERP, the functionality in Unit4 ERPx's initial release will include Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) and Human Capital Management (HCM), all in an integrated architecture. These FP&A and HCM capabilities came from the acquisitions of Prevero and Intuo, respectively.
Figure 2. Claus Jepsen, Unit4’s Chief Technology Officer, at Unit4 X4U
COVID-19 has accelerated the demise of the on-premise datacenters and it is now causing enterprises to rethink their strategy and path forward, especially those who relied on outdated on-premises software—a growing liability as more and more employees work remotely. The pandemic has exposed the weakness of allowing many years of legacy to build up in on-premise datacenters with the belief that they are more secure and reliable. Now, companies have begun to deploy more flexible and scalable architectures on all sorts of cloud and edge infrastructure to support remote end-to-end access to data.
Previously, the most significant barrier to widespread cloud ERP software adoption was the combination of bespoke (heavily customized) legacy ERP and the subsequent fragility of those systems. Many businesses still believe the costs and risks of re-architecting these mission-critical applications are too high. This leads them to use solutions that are long past their sell-by dates.
These metaphorical sell-by dates matter because the costs of keeping up with newer product versions quickly become more and more expensive. Organizations are always balancing the costs and risks, but the costs of migration will become significantly less than the costs and risks of maintaining old applications after these “sell-by” dates. The transition to cloud ERP is inevitable. The only difference will be timescales.
This is reflected in views about how cloud computing is likely to change over the next two years. A recent survey conducted by Unit4 ran showed that 84% of businesses will increase their use of cloud. This was happening before the pandemic, but the survey showed the pandemic has brought cloud migration plans forward for most enterprises.
More than half of the businesses surveyed have been moving data and applications to the cloud because of the pandemic. The survey also revealed they are much more likely to be planning a cloud ERP migration, with 80% increasing their cloud workloads. The full effects of COVID-19 on our socioeconomic fabric is still unfolding and will take years to understand. But the businesses that survive will be the ones who focused on agility and scalability.
Currently, ERP applications are most often delivered via on-premises or hosted infrastructure. HR applications are most likely to be delivered via the cloud (64%). And, web-facing applications, customer relationship management (CRM), collaboration tools, and databases are most likely to be hosted in some sort of public cloud. The biggest barriers to cloud ERP are bespoke and complex traditional ERPs and security concerns.
The survey found that there will be a 56% increase in cloud-based applications/workloads implementations and a 45% increase in the use of cloud ERP solutions due to the pandemic. Unit4 believes that moving to cloud ERP delivers considerable cost reductions, boosts agility, and improves performance and productivity.
On one side, AI and big data have been proven to enable companies to better understand the world around them. Using AI platforms together with analytics has led to insights to address new challenges faster than ever. On the other hand, low code platforms and RPA have enabled a new profile in organizations—the citizen developer. A citizen developer is a user who creates new business applications or programs for consumption by others using corporate environments.
Whether it is used as an innovation catalyst, to boost productivity, or to address the developer shortage, the use of low code/no code platforms and RPA solutions offer an intuitive user experience (UX) and low degree of complexity when it comes to the development of business applications or the automation of tasks. Unit4 believes that the consequences of the adoption of these tools are a faster time to market (or faster production) and significant cost reductions when applied properly.
In addition, low code/no code platforms and RPA solutions facilitate a user-centric approach that offers greater flexibility to adapt to customers’ needs and evolve the solution. These technologies have advanced considerably in a short period of time and will continue to advance exponentially. Organizations need to accelerate their adoption and must continue investing in building technology systems to better overcome future challenges and crises.
Figure 3. Unit4’s Extension Kit
To that end, Unit4 ERPx is built on a cloud Microsoft Azure infrastructure, and it includes low code extension toolkits that make it easier for customers or partners to build customizations and extensions into the product. Figure 3 provides some flavor in that regard.
While ERPx is an apparent migration path for the legacy Business World ERP users, multiple Unit4’s legacy ERP systems and accompanying existing customers will also be a major issue. Lately, Unit4 has quietly divested a number of non-core-competency assets. (It has sold its Spanish ERP business, the Benelux ERP business, and the Dutch SMB ERP business.)
But, for the other legacy on-premise ERP systems still under Unit4 (including Coda, Dream, etc.) the vendor will have the same challenge all other older ERP software vendors have with their on-premise ERP user bases: Unit4 needs to persuade those customers to change their systems, yet, when it does that, it will run the risk losing them to competitors. NetSuite, Sage, Microsoft Dynamics, FinancialForce, Deltek, and others might pluck away some of those old ERP customers.
Ultimately however, Unit4 needs to move towards a single-code base, as the benefits from that can be massive in the long run. Otherwise, the company will still have multiple completely divergent code streams. Yet, a major strength of AI and big data comes from having all of the customers (and their data) on a single SaaS platform for years and thus being able to glean insights from their actual system use.
A forthcoming blog post on Unit4 will include our frank discussion with Unit4’s top brass about the company’s current state of affairs, with a particular focus on the pandemic initiatives. Stay tuned for more!
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FinancialForceX Summit 2020: Introducing New Customer-Centricity
Why the Dearth of ERP Systems for Higher Education?
Unit4 Gets into Talent Management via Intuo
Since it was taken private by Advent International in 2014, the vendor has undergone considerable transformation to become one of the largest providers of services ERP Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions in the mid-market. Mike Ettling (see Figure 1), formerly the President of SAP Successfactors, a leading provider of cloud human capital management (HCM) SaaS solutions, became Unit4 CEO in mid-2019.
Figure 1. Mike Ettling at Unit4 X4U
Enter X4U and ERPx
Recently, the vendor held its Experience4U (X4U) virtual conference for its customers and partners. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Unit4 has more than 5,000 customers in 100 countries, primarily in European Union, although in the past several years the company has quite expanded its presence in North America and the Asia-Pacific region.At the conference, Ettling unveiled Unit4 ERPx, the vendor’s upcoming next-generation cloud ERP software platform optimized for several service industry segments. Unit4 ERPx evolved out of the current Unit4 ERP 7 platform (formerly Agresso Business World [ABW]). The new cloud ERP software release is slated for general availability (GA) in March 2021 or so. As Figure 2 depicts, Unit4 ERPx is built on the following three pillars:
- Deep industry functionality
- A compelling new user experience (UX)
- True multi-tenant cloud and microservices-based architecture
These three pillars are intended to make Unit4 ERPx software the right fit for targeted organizations in professional services, higher education, the public sector, and the non-profit sector.
There will be many out-of-the-box configurations aimed at substantially reducing the costs of going live. In addition to core ERP, the functionality in Unit4 ERPx's initial release will include Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) and Human Capital Management (HCM), all in an integrated architecture. These FP&A and HCM capabilities came from the acquisitions of Prevero and Intuo, respectively.
Figure 2. Claus Jepsen, Unit4’s Chief Technology Officer, at Unit4 X4U
Cloud ERP Importance
Having gone through a first wave of lockdowns and with many countries now experiencing a second wave of the pandemic, enterprises are thinking about new strategies to build more resilience. Prior to COVID-19, companies were already shifting more and more of their operations to the cloud, developing a more hybrid model. Considering the upfront capital to acquire and deploy on-premise infrastructure and the staff and facilities to maintain them, the cloud becomes a less expensive option.COVID-19 has accelerated the demise of the on-premise datacenters and it is now causing enterprises to rethink their strategy and path forward, especially those who relied on outdated on-premises software—a growing liability as more and more employees work remotely. The pandemic has exposed the weakness of allowing many years of legacy to build up in on-premise datacenters with the belief that they are more secure and reliable. Now, companies have begun to deploy more flexible and scalable architectures on all sorts of cloud and edge infrastructure to support remote end-to-end access to data.
Previously, the most significant barrier to widespread cloud ERP software adoption was the combination of bespoke (heavily customized) legacy ERP and the subsequent fragility of those systems. Many businesses still believe the costs and risks of re-architecting these mission-critical applications are too high. This leads them to use solutions that are long past their sell-by dates.
These metaphorical sell-by dates matter because the costs of keeping up with newer product versions quickly become more and more expensive. Organizations are always balancing the costs and risks, but the costs of migration will become significantly less than the costs and risks of maintaining old applications after these “sell-by” dates. The transition to cloud ERP is inevitable. The only difference will be timescales.
This is reflected in views about how cloud computing is likely to change over the next two years. A recent survey conducted by Unit4 ran showed that 84% of businesses will increase their use of cloud. This was happening before the pandemic, but the survey showed the pandemic has brought cloud migration plans forward for most enterprises.
More than half of the businesses surveyed have been moving data and applications to the cloud because of the pandemic. The survey also revealed they are much more likely to be planning a cloud ERP migration, with 80% increasing their cloud workloads. The full effects of COVID-19 on our socioeconomic fabric is still unfolding and will take years to understand. But the businesses that survive will be the ones who focused on agility and scalability.
Currently, ERP applications are most often delivered via on-premises or hosted infrastructure. HR applications are most likely to be delivered via the cloud (64%). And, web-facing applications, customer relationship management (CRM), collaboration tools, and databases are most likely to be hosted in some sort of public cloud. The biggest barriers to cloud ERP are bespoke and complex traditional ERPs and security concerns.
The survey found that there will be a 56% increase in cloud-based applications/workloads implementations and a 45% increase in the use of cloud ERP solutions due to the pandemic. Unit4 believes that moving to cloud ERP delivers considerable cost reductions, boosts agility, and improves performance and productivity.
Modern Technology Matters
The evolution of this crisis has also confirmed the importance of modern technology tools such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation (RPA), low code platforms, big data, etc. in finding solutions to the challenges businesses are currently facing. Most companies have been urged to adopt new applications to respond to the restrictions that COVID-19 has brought. Software is now at the center of organizations and increasing efficiency and productivity has become crucial to keep their business running.On one side, AI and big data have been proven to enable companies to better understand the world around them. Using AI platforms together with analytics has led to insights to address new challenges faster than ever. On the other hand, low code platforms and RPA have enabled a new profile in organizations—the citizen developer. A citizen developer is a user who creates new business applications or programs for consumption by others using corporate environments.
Whether it is used as an innovation catalyst, to boost productivity, or to address the developer shortage, the use of low code/no code platforms and RPA solutions offer an intuitive user experience (UX) and low degree of complexity when it comes to the development of business applications or the automation of tasks. Unit4 believes that the consequences of the adoption of these tools are a faster time to market (or faster production) and significant cost reductions when applied properly.
In addition, low code/no code platforms and RPA solutions facilitate a user-centric approach that offers greater flexibility to adapt to customers’ needs and evolve the solution. These technologies have advanced considerably in a short period of time and will continue to advance exponentially. Organizations need to accelerate their adoption and must continue investing in building technology systems to better overcome future challenges and crises.
Figure 3. Unit4’s Extension Kit
To that end, Unit4 ERPx is built on a cloud Microsoft Azure infrastructure, and it includes low code extension toolkits that make it easier for customers or partners to build customizations and extensions into the product. Figure 3 provides some flavor in that regard.
The Execution of Strategies Will Be Paramount
In summary, Unit4 ERPx looks like a sound strategy, one that is well differentiated for its target market, and Unit4 just needs to prove that it can deliver and execute on it. Unit4 has not traditionally executed well on a partner strategy (i.e., it has been handling most implementations and performing R&D on its own), but a new level of partnership is going to be critical for success with the aforementioned new microservices-based extensions strategy.While ERPx is an apparent migration path for the legacy Business World ERP users, multiple Unit4’s legacy ERP systems and accompanying existing customers will also be a major issue. Lately, Unit4 has quietly divested a number of non-core-competency assets. (It has sold its Spanish ERP business, the Benelux ERP business, and the Dutch SMB ERP business.)
But, for the other legacy on-premise ERP systems still under Unit4 (including Coda, Dream, etc.) the vendor will have the same challenge all other older ERP software vendors have with their on-premise ERP user bases: Unit4 needs to persuade those customers to change their systems, yet, when it does that, it will run the risk losing them to competitors. NetSuite, Sage, Microsoft Dynamics, FinancialForce, Deltek, and others might pluck away some of those old ERP customers.
Ultimately however, Unit4 needs to move towards a single-code base, as the benefits from that can be massive in the long run. Otherwise, the company will still have multiple completely divergent code streams. Yet, a major strength of AI and big data comes from having all of the customers (and their data) on a single SaaS platform for years and thus being able to glean insights from their actual system use.
A forthcoming blog post on Unit4 will include our frank discussion with Unit4’s top brass about the company’s current state of affairs, with a particular focus on the pandemic initiatives. Stay tuned for more!
Related Reading
NetSuite ERP Is TEC Certified for Discrete, Distribution, Service, Mixed-mode, Manufacturing and MoreDeltek Insight 2020—Executing Projects and Even More in Adversity
FinancialForceX Summit 2020: Introducing New Customer-Centricity
Why the Dearth of ERP Systems for Higher Education?
Unit4 Gets into Talent Management via Intuo
About the Author
Predrag Jakovljevic | Principal 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 ...