IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Intelligent ERP 2025 Predictions
This IDC study presents the top 10 predictions and key drivers for intelligent ERP/enterprise applications over the next five years. The AI everywhere digital world is upon us. Organizations continue to embrace its innovation along with digital transformation activities that include modernizing their enterprise applications to SaaS and cloud enabled. Generative AI has left a profound impact as it emerges and is being applied to existing workflows. Assistants, agents, and advisors have emerged to help organizations adopt quickly to the new digital coworker collaborative toolsets. This adoption will help organizations improve their processes and the employee's work and reshape the organization to become an AI-fueled business with more autonomous workflows. "Organizations are at a crossroads with many technology activities including digital transformation, enterprise application modernization, automation of workflows, AI experimentation, and enabling more optimized processes to aid the employees in their flow of work," said Mickey North Rizza, IDC group vice president, Enterprise Software. "IDC finds the digital coworker will completely transform the organization's use of enterprise applications and bring in additional focus on more native AI applications. This shift means the organizations will be reshaped over time in the employee and technology methods of work, technology architecture, employee skills, KPIs, and finally, the structure of the organization."
IDC FutureScape Figure
Executive Summary
IDC FutureScape Predictions
Summary of External Drivers
Predictions: Impact on Technology Buyers
Prediction 1: By Late 2025, 35% of Organizations Will Harness the Power of the Digital Worker and Accelerate Employee Skills Training to Drive Improved Resource Collaboration and Greater Valued Outcomes
Associated Drivers
IT Impact
Business Impact
Guidance
Prediction 2: By 2026, 40% of the G2000 Will Utilize Tools Provided by Enterprise App Vendors to Create Their Own Highly Customized GenAI Capabilities Grounded in Their Data to Maximize Value and Boost KPIs
Associated Drivers
IT Impact
Business Impact
Guidance
Prediction 3: By Mid-2026, 60% of G2000 Will Have New KPIs to Align AI-Infused Processes and Employee's Workflows, Which Will Drive 45% Improvements in Overall Operational Efficiency and Employee Productivity
Associated Drivers
IT Impact
Business Impact
Guidance
Prediction 4: By Late 2026, 65% of Organizations Will Leverage AI to Bring Immediate Employee and Business Value with AI-Driven Technology Assistants, Advisors, and Agents Enabling Improved Decisions
Associated Drivers
IT Impact
Business Impact
Guidance
Prediction 5: By 2027, 75% of Global Businesses Will Have Begun the Process of Incrementally Decoupling Monolithic Enterprise Apps via the "Strangler Pattern" to Continue Future Proofing Their Organization
Associated Drivers
IT Impact
Business Impact
Guidance
Prediction 6: By Mid-2027, 55% of Global Organizations Will Use Their ERP Systems as a Primary Hub for ESG-Related Efforts to More Effectively Weave and Measure Sustainable Practices Throughout Their Operations
Associated Drivers
IT Impact
Business Impact
Guidance
Prediction 7: Driven by AI and Autonomous Agents, in 2027, 40% of G2000 Will Utilize Their ERP Systems as Value Engines, Transforming Decision Support to Contextual Insights
Associated Drivers
IT Impact
Business Impact
Guidance
Prediction 8: By 2028, 70% of Organizations Worldwide Will Adopt Unified, Electronic Invoice Exchange and Compliance as a Service Because of New e-Invoicing Mandates and Technology Advancements
Associated Drivers
IT Impact
Business Impact
Guidance
Prediction 9: Leveraging GenAI, by 2028, 45% of G2000 Will Consolidate Lines of Business into Fewer Functions, Optimizing Their Processes, Data, and Resources, Building a New Resource-Savvy Enterprise
Associated Drivers
IT Impact
Business Impact
Guidance
Prediction 10: Because of GenAI, by 2029, 80% of Today's Organizational Workflows Will Be Automated into an Optimized Digital Factory, with 50% of G2000 Embracing a New Business Resource Structure
Associated Drivers
IT Impact
Business Impact
Guidance
Advice for Technology Buyers
External Drivers: Detail
AI-Driven Business Models — Moving from AI Experimentation to Monetization
The Drive to Automate — Toward a Data-Driven Future
Future Proofing Against Environmental Risks — ESG Operationalization and Risk Management
AI-Driven Workplace Transformation — Building Tomorrow's Workforce Today
Regulatory Flux — Navigating Compliance Challenges in a Shifting Policy Landscape
Responsible and Human-Centric Technology — Ethics in the Enterprise
Battling Against Technical Debt — Overcoming Hurdles to IT Modernization
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