Cloud ERP Year in Review: 2025 Learnings and 2026 Predictions

Cloud ERP Observations From the Salesforce Ecosystem

As 2025 comes to a close, one thing is clear: this year wasn’t about flashy features or experimental tech. It was about fundamentals like visibility, control, and the ability to explain your business with confidence. The companies that thrived weren’t necessarily the ones spending the most, but the ones making smarter operational decisions.

Here’s what 2025 taught us and where we believe 2026 is headed.

What We Learned in 2025

Growth didn’t slow, it got smarter.
Despite a cautious economic backdrop, organizations continued to invest. What changed was scrutiny. Every system, process, and initiative had to justify its ROI. “Nice-to-have” tools were cut, while platforms that delivered measurable outcomes stayed. Cloud ERP increasingly moved from back-office infrastructure to a core decision engine.

Funding exposed operational gaps.
Capital was still available in 2025, but diligence became sharper and timelines tighter. Investors, grant committees, and boards expected clean data and defensible numbers. Companies relying on manual processes or disconnected systems struggled to explain performance and some deals stalled entirely. Operational visibility became a prerequisite for growth.

AI hype outpaced operational reality.
AI dominated headlines, but results were uneven. Teams that layered AI on top of messy data or broken processes saw limited value. Automation failed where workflows weren’t standardized. Leaders became more skeptical, realizing that AI can’t compensate for poor operational foundations.

Spreadsheets hit their ceiling.
Many teams pushed spreadsheets further than ever before and paid the price. Inventory mismatches, version control issues, and manual workarounds became full-time jobs. In 2025, spreadsheets stopped scaling emotionally and operationally.

Operations leaders stepped into the spotlight.
COOs, operations directors, and admins gained real influence. Buying decisions became more ops-led and outcome-focused, with less tolerance for IT-only initiatives. Adoption, usability, and time-to-value mattered more than feature lists.

Cloud ERP Predictions for 2026

ERP will be judged on time-to-value.
In 2026, if value isn’t visible within the first 90 days, patience will run out. Faster implementations, opinionated configurations, and real adoption will outperform highly customized systems.

AI will move from hype to cautiously optimistic.
AI budgets will be tied directly to outcomes based on early testing for inventory optimization, exception handling, and labor efficiency. No measurable ROI will mean cautious investment in AI again.

Funding and compliance will drive adoption.
Cloud ERP will increasingly be seen as a prerequisite — not a nice-to-have — for funding rounds, grants, public-sector modernization, and regulated industries like healthcare, biotech, retailers, and nonprofits.

“Good enough” systems will be replaced.
2026 will be the year of replacement, not expansion. Legacy ERPs and fragile Frankenstacks will give way to consolidated, modern platforms — driven by a demand for clarity and control.

Operations data becomes leadership data.
Real-time operational insight will shape board conversations, strategic planning, and workforce decisions. Dashboards won’t be optional, they’ll be foundational.

If 2025 was about learning hard lessons, 2026 will be about acting on them. The organizations that invest in clarity, discipline, and operational truth will be the ones best positioned for what comes next.

What predictions do you have for 2026? Send us a message and let us know!