The market for enterprise resource planning systems sold to small and medium-sized businesses is fragmented, and contains opportunities for most suppliers. The ERP market for so-called tier 3 SMBs will grow at a compounded annual growth rate of over 11 percent to reach $8.9bn by 2011, according to a new study from ARC Advisory Group.
Most tier 1 and 2 manufacturers made their ERP decisions in the mid 1990s, so the key current strategy of suppliers to this market is to maintain their existing customer base, and to expand their customer's use of their applications. Within the tier 3 market, the 10-year ERP replacement cycle remains a major factor, and penetration levels are relatively low, making this an interesting market.
Source: ARC Advisory Group, http://arcweb.com