ERPs suck. Generative AI will fix them.
Generative AI will lead to a new breed of ERPs that are more delightful, more adaptive, more connected.
Current software is static. It’s been built a particular way, with specific interfaces, and, if you don’t like them, tough luck. That’s specially true for ERPs: you have to translate your problem, your goal, your way of thinking into whatever set of filters, dropdowns, and inputs the software sees fit to provide for you.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Imagine, instead, a world where software adapts to you. A world where, when you receive an email from Ned Neverpleased asking for an urgent quote for frozzles, your computer shows you exactly how many frozzles you have left, what the going rate is, and how much you’re allowed to discount for Ned. A world where, if your shift employee Tardy Noshow tells you he can’t make his shift on Monday after all, your computer creates an updated schedule, and, when you approve it, fires emails to your more reliable employees so they can show up.
This world isn’t quite here, but it will be. Generative AI will lead to a new breed of software that adapts to you. At Lumina, we call this adaptive software. This will have greatest impact on ERPs — large, bloated, frustrating software that has successfully avoided recent fads like user-centred design and delightful experiences. Operations teams will finally be able to set up automations and manage their business without having to manage a maze of complex user interfaces or pay expensive implementation teams to make their tools usable.
If you are looking to implement a next-generation ERP, look out for a solution that:
Is configured in plain English. Configuration of ERPs has traditionally been hard. You had to either power through a maze of UI forms, or write code. By contrast, adaptive ERPs allow users to express themselves in plain English, and have language models translate that to configuration the platform understands. This provides both a) a much more natural interface for users, and b) allows users to express much more sophisticated functionality than would be possible via UI forms.
Connects to other systems. Adaptive ERPs will be connected into HR systems to know about employees, to accounting systems to have a list of invoices, and to emails to scan for incoming information to update the state of the business. They will be able to both read data from those systems and take action in those systems. AI models will create the glue between the ERP and those systems.
Lets you focus on strategy rather than data entry. Legacy ERPs are basically a bunch of forms and tables. They rely on humans to put in data. But, with adaptive ERPs able to scan emails for new orders, and able to produce reports automatically, the role of operators will shift. Instead of spending time feeding data to the ERP, operators will focus instead on defining supply chain processes. They might, for instance, define rules for when to re-order a product, or for how to allocate shifts. We will see a shift away from user interfaces focussed on forms and tables, and towards UIs for defining rules and metrics in plain English.
For too long, operators have been adapting to software, rather than software adapting to them. This is about to change. Generative AI will have a profound impact on how we work. It will allow us to spend less time executing processes and more time defining them. We’ll feel less like some de-humanized cog feeding a mindless software machine. We will be able to spend more time on the qualities that differentiate us as humans: creativity, empathy, customer understanding.
That’s the vision behind Lumina: to put operators back in control while empowering today’s small businesses to fulfil their greatest growth ambitions. Get in touch at hello@get-lumina.com to find out more!
I like this vision, it's clearly the way, good luck!