ERP Leaders share their top predictions for 2026

Who are the people best placed to predict the future of an industry? Analysts? Journalists? Astrologers? We think not: instead, it’s the people who are steeped in that world, the professionals who have worked in that industry for years, sometimes decades. So for our ERP predictions for 2026, we turn to 14 true experts who’ve walked the walk.

You won’t be shocked to hear that the subject of AI comes up many times; how could it not? But what you will soon discover is that most see AI as a tool that works in the background to support ERP solutions, whether that’s in the role of AI agents or the power behind automation.

Another big word here is “data”. Data may not be as glamorous as AI, but it’s the base on which successful ERP relies. To quote Andy Kohm below, “the companies that succeed will be the ones that recognise AI is only as effective as the data flowing through it and address that problem first”.

The future of ERP isn’t software, it’s intelligence

“The Agentic AI ERP Era is unfolding now. The future of ERP isn’t software, it’s intelligence. Enterprises that invest in data quality, ethical AI, and human-centric change management will build self-learning, self-optimizing, and self-governing organizations. By 2026, the conversation will shift from ERP upgrades to AI-driven uplifts rewarding those who combine vision with execution.”

By Jon Mulder, Product Marketing Director for Innovation Solutions, Vijay Kumar, EVP & Chief Innovation Officer, and Eric Helmer, EVP & Global Chief Technology Officer at Rimini Street

The next wave of ERP innovation will be defined by intelligence and autonomy

“This year, ERP systems will evolve to continuously identify anomalies, recommend actions, and in some cases, execute workflows autonomously. Much of this will happen quietly in the background, reducing friction and speeding up response times while staying aligned with governance and regulatory controls.”

By Neil Gardner, Head of Cloud ERP at SAP

Rise of vertical ERPs

“Embedded finance is done being a marketplace add-on. We’re already seeing it hard-wired into ERPs, whether through acquisitions like SAP buying Taulia, or players like Cegid building financing capabilities in-house. The real shift, though, will come from vertical ERPs. They understand their users’ cash-flow realities far better than generalists ever will. By 2026, ERPs won’t just manage transactions, they’ll be the primary distribution channel for B2B credit.”

By Clément Carrier, CEO and Co-Founder of fintech Aria

Data as the foundation to successful ERP systems

“In 2026, many AI initiatives inside ERP systems will quietly be labelled disappointments. Not because the models failed, but because they were fed incomplete, inconsistent, and poorly maintained supply chain data. The companies that succeed will be the ones that recognise AI is only as effective as the data flowing through it and address that problem first. They will put durable mechanisms in place to continuously clean, enrich, and maintain their data, rather than treating data prep as a one-time project. Those foundations will separate AI that looks impressive in demos from AI that actually improves decisions in production.”

Andy Kohm, CEO and Founder of SCIP

How to do more with less

“There’s no doubt that AI adoption will continue to be a growing trend in ERP, with the focus being on how AI can make you get faster, smarter, and more data-driven. AI is often billed as a silver bullet, but while it can massively improve operational efficiencies, it still relies on the fundamentals being in place. In short, AI can absolutely help businesses get there faster, but it must be built on a solid foundation.”

Claire Carter, Managing Director- Access ERP, The Access Group

The right AI “glue”

“As AI integrates more with ERP, we’re getting closer to the concept of composable ERP. We already have Agents performing individual tasks, but with the right AI glue these Agents will be able to supercharge their impact in the world of ERP. If they can operate invisibly in the background, talking to one another and identifying where and when to bring humans into the loop, this will dramatically reduce the administrative burden on users.”

Claus Jepsen, CTO, Unit4

AI as the backbone for cloud-based ERP

“In 2026, ERP systems will move beyond bolt-on AI and begin embedding native AI features as standards like MCPs mature and stabilize. In Microsoft-centric ERP environments, Copilot will become the dominant interface for interacting with data and workflows, while ChatGPT and Claude will increasingly serve as the backbone for cloud-based ERPs that need flexibility across platforms. Voice AI will be used more frequently to issue instructions, while at the same time, real-time analytics and anomaly detection will improve dramatically, allowing finance teams to identify issues as they happen rather than after the close. Perhaps most transformative will be the rise of dynamic, individual AI agents assigned to specific accounting functions, handling narrowly defined tasks with speed and consistency and fundamentally changing how work flows across finance teams.”

Vince De Leon, CEO of Scrubbed

Expect an explosion of AI products next year

“We’re seeing the end of the big enterprise software suite era. While ERPs and similar systems won’t disappear, they’ll become less strategic. The focus is shifting to smaller, flexible AI-driven tools that evolve faster and can better match the pace of business.”

Andy Sen, CTO of AppDirect

The 800-pound gorilla in the room

“In 2026, I see a lot of different trends continuing to take shape across the ERP ecosystem, and honestly, you can’t talk about it without addressing the 800-pound gorilla in the room: AI automation. We’re already seeing ERP platforms introduce AI through copilots and embedded tools, but that adoption is going to accelerate quickly. What’s just as important is the shift happening underneath that – newer companies in the ERP space are building AI-first from the ground up. Because of that, ERP systems are starting to move away from being passive, transactional systems and toward something much more proactive. They’re evolving into decision-support engines that surface information in near real time, helping organizations actually make decisions instead of just reporting on what already happened.”

Cory McNeley, Managing Director at UHY

AI will drive the next era of transformation in ERP

“When ERP was introduced in the 1990s, it reshaped the world of business. Today, AI is causing another reinvention of business operations. In 2026, we will see two trends: the marrying of ERP and AI and the attempt to replace traditional ERP with custom AI-tools which will drive the next era of transformation.”

Chris Petzoldt, Founder and Partner at Pretian Squared

Overengineering

“I think a lot of ERP platforms are going to hit a wall in 2026 because they’ve become overengineered and most operators just want things to be simpler. They don’t want to log into ten systems to do one thing. If your system needs a full-time person just to manage it, something’s wrong. The future is ERPs that quietly handle the boring stuff in the background and flag real problems when they pop up. That’s what we’ve leaned into at Juici Patties, if the tech doesn’t make life easier for franchisees, we don’t use it.”

Stuart Levy, USA Managing Director of Juici Patties

The risk of technological lock-in

“From a technical standpoint, ERP platforms will generally not rely on a single model or one AI solution. Instead, they will open up access to a broad spectrum of commercial and open-source models that can be combined and compared as needed.”

Vladimír Výborný, Consulting Director, BIQ Group

The C-Level conundrum

“In 2026, I expect the big ERP providers to increasingly cling to governance and predictability as their core ‘innovation’ in the Agentic AI space. Why? They will seek to satisfy the C-level stakeholders hungry for AI agents without increasing their company risk profile, effectively caging the most exciting technology of the decade.”

Sara Maldon, Head of Automation & AI at Make

Public Sector ERP

“Driven by AI, public sector ERP platforms will deliver hyper-personalised services, anticipating citizen and organisational needs and tailoring interactions in real-time. This move from a one-size-fits-all service model to a deeply individualised one will become the new standard for public administration in response to trust and relatability being core traits that define government.”

Rob Bollard, Industry Principal Public Sector APJ, Pegasystems

Interviews from our ERP and Beyond series

• Sean Nappo, Executive Vice President, Americas, at Aptean: “Looking ahead five to ten years, an ERP will no longer be a back‑office system”
• Gareth Jones, Chief Operating Officer at SNP Group: “Finance will always benefit greatly from a fully integrated ERP system”
• David De Rego, VP of Product Marketing, Acumatica: “Being cloud-native opens the door to continuous innovation”
• Neil Gardner, Head of Cloud ERP at SAP: “Leaders should make their technology transformation a shared mission”