The field of ERP is vast and very complicated.  I have been doing this for longer than I care to remember now and am still learning new things, both technical details and broad concepts.  As every person who is involved in technology knows, the ground we stand on changes every minute.

One of the things that I think is important enough to emphasize the value of drawing a circle around what you do, and what you leave to others.  The business literature is often conflicted about this, but I think when it comes to the ERP ecology the borders are very clear.

I was once told the story of the business owner who started a chain of hamburger joints.  He did very well and everyone loved his hamburgers.  Then he started thinking about horizontal expansion,  and figured if he would buy the french fries supplier and supply his own french fries, he would become more profitable.  This is where things started to go downhill.  The business owner knew how to operate hamburger joints, but he did not have the faintest idea on how to run a french fries factory.  Both businesses suffered.  It is often more important in business to know what you don’t do, rather than what you do.

Ok, so what is my point anyways.  ISVs (Independent Software Vendors) are companies that have decided they are going to make software and do just that.  They leave the implementation of the software in the hands of implementation partners.  Their focus is based on solving a particular aspect of the ERP spectrum in the best way possible and constantly improve it with when technology and business change. 

Just like many ERP  vendors, they work 100% indirectly.  Meaning they focus on making the software and implementation partners focus on putting the software into action at the customers site.  These two roles are completely different, they require a different kind of skill set and focus.  Similar to the french fries supplier and the hamburger joint.

People might question the need for ISVs.  Shouldn’t the main ERP vendor supply all business functionality that is needed?  The reality is that the number of business processes and variations is so high that to expect a single entity to handle them is inefficient.  Also, the ISVs have the luxury of focusing on a single color in the spectrum rather than making sure all of the colors are attended to.

ERP ecosystem has the ERP supplier at the center, ISVs surrounding and at the outer edge the ERP implementation teams.  We need this separation of roles in order to successfully master this complicated field and provide more value to society.