ERP Platforms Need to Account for Sustainability, And Time Is of The Essence

Tech pundits have already suggested that a structural overhaul within ERP will be necessary for efficiently adopting SaaS models, and now there is another reason for drastic change: sustainability. It is very likely that in the near future there will be a high demand for carbon offset costs that are incorporated into cost accounting applications, and such an inclusion into ERP platforms will be expensive and disruptive.

Accounting for sustainability and carbon footprint measurement will require ERP developers to reevaluate programs determining what the true costs of a product is including carbon offset costs, which production facilities should or shouldn’t be used, and how product scheduling can be optimized for emissions, among others. Most ERP solutions today don’t account for these costs, and despite the intrusiveness of an overhaul, it will be necessary for true sustainability measurements within certain functionalities. Algorithms for production scheduling optimize machine usage, but do not assess the carbon footprints of certain processes—another structural element that will need tweaking.

On his ZDNet blog, Brian Sommer implores ERP vendors not to treat sustainability as easily calculable and adoptable—that is, to not treat carbon offset measurement modules as add-ons to existing platforms. He asks them to be anticipatory in their innovations, and he has a point—by the time most companies need sustainable ERP solutions, they won’t be able to afford waiting the several years necessary for a structural facelift.

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