When it comes to business management software, enterprise resource planning (ERP) is one of the top suites in the market. The integrated applications are used to collect, store, manage and interpret data from many business activities which can include:

• Product planning, cost and development
• Manufacturing or service delivery
• Marketing and sales
• Inventory management
• Shipping and payment

The data collected through these processes can be viewed and analyzed in real time, using common databases maintained by data management systems. It is a multi-billion dollar industry that is only growing as more companies are starting to get on the business software bandwagon.

According to the most recent survey from Gartner, the worldwide ERP marketplace grew 3.8 percent in 2013. That is an improvement from the 2.2 percent growth that was experienced in 2012.

The leaders in the marketplace are selling billions of dollars worth of product. SAP leads market share with 24 percent and $6.1 billion in sales in 2013. Oracle was second with 12 percent market share and $3.11 billion. Several other companies followed with market shares in the single digits. Overall, technology companies invested $25.4 billion in the ERP market in 2013.

An article from Forbes examined the study and some of the major trends to come out of it. The first is the fact that being complacent can be a problem. The businesses that are thriving in the landscape today are those that did not sit ideally by, but instead innovated. Not only should vendors look to provide the top of the line services, but organizations that are investing in new systems need to make innovation a priority when selecting a solution provider.

The second trend is born from the vendors that were not represented in the survey because they were considered "too small." While some of these organizations are acting defensive, those that are able to create a business model that must deliver value on a daily basis. This is not the time for companies to be complacent.

The article does make reference to the fact that the cloud platform is playing a major role in how organizations operate. This kind of solution is gaining traction because it can be cost effective when managed properly.

"Impatient for results and systems that can deliver them, the high growth areas of the ERP market are being driven by companies who see cloud-based systems as more agile and responsive to their changing business model needs," the article reads. "Legacy systems designed for business models long gone yet still on maintenance are being extended today with cloud-based systems capable to keeping pace with an entirely new level of performance companies need to survive and grow."

Businesses in a number of different sections are starting to look into the possibilities of ERP solutions and how they can help transform how the organization operates. One of the smartest ways to do this is by partnering with a business management software provider that not only offers the top systems, but also manage them once they have been deploy within your business. This removes some of the pressure and makes it easier for companies to take the step into the future.