The ERP Minute Episode 128: March 5, 2024

Hi and welcome to episode 128 of The ERP Minute. I’m your host, Rebekah McCabe.

Sage began the week by highlighting several announcements at Sage Transform 2024, its annual conference in Las Vegas. First, Sage unveiled its AI-powered productivity assistant, Sage Copilot, which handles administrative and repetitive tasks in ‘real-time’ while recommending ways for customers to create more time and space to focus on growing and scaling their businesses. Then, Sage announced its strategic collaboration agreement with AWS to enhance how SMBs optimize their operations with generative AI. Sage Intacct followed suit by unveiling new features to streamline operations and boost productivity through AI, with enhancements through Sage Intacct’s AI-powered Project & Resource Management, and Forms and Operational Flows. Finally, Sage highlighted updates to its Construction & Real Estate portfolio through Estimating with BidMatrix, Sage Construction Management, and Sage Intacct Construction. These announcements further support Sage’s industry focus, especially in providing enhancements to Sage Intacct for deeper functionality. As Sage Intacct continues to take centerstage at Sage, we expect the product to receive even more developmental focus. For more information, be on the lookout for our Sage Transform 2024 debrief this week.

Then, Salesforce announced results for its fiscal fourth quarter and full year 2024 ended January 31, 2024. Total fourth-quarter revenue was $9.29 billion, an increase of 11%. Subscription and support revenues were $8.75 billion, an increase of 12% year-over-year. Fiscal 2024 revenue was $34.86 billion, an increase of 11% year-over-year, with subscription and support revenues at $32.54 billion, an increase of 12%. These financial results further demonstrate the substantial role of subscription revenue in maintaining financial growth. With key revenue streams in place, Salesforce can invest back into the business for new tools and product enhancements.

In other news, Workday announced it has entered a definitive agreement to acquire HiredScore, a provider of AI-powered talent orchestration solutions that enable companies to use data-driven insights to improve recruiting and talent mobility processes. HiredScore’s talent orchestration functionality combined with Workday Talent Management and Workday skills will help customers better manage the talent lifecycle, elevate recruiter and hiring manager experience, and leverage responsible AI to solve recruiting challenges. Workday, like many other ERP vendors, is looking to streamline processes by enhancing existing solutions with the power of AI and deeper, industry-specific functionality. This acquisition speeds up the time to value by utilizing a preexisting solution so customers can do even more with what they already have in place.

Finally, QAD announced the launch of its Industrial Transformation Platform, an initiative designed to redefine global business operations and empower organizations on their journey to becoming “Adaptive Enterprises”. Also known as the O3 Platform, it provides a range of elements and support for organizations including deep industry and domain expertise, accelerated implementations, frontline worker coaching, holistic manufacturing and supply chain solutions, process intelligence, pragmatic AI, and more, to solve real-world problems. QAD continues to focus on providing deeper functionality to users. In this case, QAD is prioritizing the speed of time to value and addressing labor shortages by providing a platform for businesses to transform more efficiently.

Thanks for tuning into The ERP Minute. We are always looking for newsworthy material to share with our listeners, so send us breaking ERP news! Make sure you subscribe to our Apple Podcast, Spotify, and YouTube channels so you never miss an episode. We’ll see you next week.