The concept of a single ERP suite that meets all of an enterprise's needs is dead, and has been replaced by a hybrid ERP approach that combines cloud point solutions with a smaller "core" of on-premises ERP function, such as financials and manufacturings. Gartner predicts that hybrid ERP environments will be the norm within five years. 

"Longer term, over the next 10 years and more, we envision a scenario where more of the market 'flips' to the cloud. Instead of having on-premises core solutions that are complemented by innovation or differentiating processes being supported in the cloud, some organizations will move all their ERP functionality to the cloud," said Nigel Rayner, research vice president at Gartner. "These won't be single vendor megasuites but instead will be loosely coupled suites of cloud functionality, which will create new integration challenges for IT."

While it will be at least 10 years or more before the majority of organizations decide to flip ERP to the cloud, Gartner predicts there are industry segments where this will happen much sooner. Service-centric industries, such as professional services, business services and digital media, have not been well-served by integrated ERP suites, which have tended to focus on product and asset-centric industries. Many have already moved key elements of application functionality to the cloud and there will be a greater likelihood that service-centric companies will flip the majority of their ERP functionality to the cloud within the next five years, earlier than the product-centric companies.