Can't live with them, can't live without them. That pretty much sums up how CIOs and IT leaders feel about their ERP systems, according to a new CIO magazine survey that primarily focused on small to mid-market companies.
What they told us revealed the extent to which companies in 2008 are completely married to and dependent upon their ERP systems. More than 85 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that their ERP systems were essential to the core of their businesses, and that they "could not live without them."
But this marriage is also showing some signs of stress: CIOs are still plagued by complex system integrations, high cost of ownership and ERP systems that are difficult to use. They are also yearning for innovation from their vendor partners. And yet, CIOs appear unwilling or unable to divorce their companies from their ERP systems and try something new, such as software-as-a-service or open-source models.
Source: CIO, http://cio.com