South Africa entered the year with weak business confidence, fluctuating exchange rates and delayed investment cycles.
Companies were forced to delay large-scale programmes, and many had a scrappy year, working hard to gain and maintain momentum.
The Rand traded through one of its most unstable ranges over the past five years, moving between R17.80 ($1.12) and R19.64 to the dollar and unsettling long-term planning. This economic pressure has also influenced how companies think about transformation.
Leaders are cautious. Spending is controlled. Decisions are taking longer. Companies are hesitant to invest in technology and are demanding more visibility into return on investment (ROI) and sustainability. They also want less of a licensing cost burden.
Global cloud platforms are usually dollar-based, which means that monthly costs are as unpredictable as the exchange rate. Which means companies are either sitting on the fence when it comes to optimising their systems or they’re not even considering it.
The problem with this stagnation is that, despite the hype, systems do lag if they’re not optimised or agile enough to adapt to changing market conditions.
Outdated technology faces inefficiencies, higher error rates and difficulty scaling are common challenges thanks to manual processes and fragmented data. The move from these older systems to smoother digital ones also benefits employees who tend to, with the right change management, be more engaged, which reduces training costs and faster time to ROI.
Globally, companies are offsetting this risk with ERP solutions that prioritise value. This is reflected in how Microsoft has approached Business Central, commissioning a Forrester Total Economic Impact (TEI) study into the value companies will measurably feel if they migrate to the cloud-based business management tool.
The study found that companies see a 265% ROI with tangible productivity improvements across operations, sales and finance. It also reduced the cost of third-party fees by more than $80,000 every year.
It’s a cloud-native ERP implementation which has become increasingly popular in the mid-market because it replaces siloed, ageing architecture with a single business platform capable of scaling without the cost and complexity of traditional tier one ERP systems.
Larger companies are also moving into Business Central because it offers a value alternative with strong capabilities without the excess costs.
Providing you with a full operating environment that manages finance, compliance, inventory, importing, warehousing, manufacturing and sales in one place, Business Central is a simplified system for control and visibility.
A 2024 TEI study by Forrester found that the technology can help companies avoid the costs associated with legacy ERP systems to the tune of $53k every year – a saving that is also felt in reduced infrastructure and upgrade costs.
The software helps companies move from fragmented environments into a centralised system that can run the entire organisation and it can support companies of all shapes and sizes. Enterprise?
Get in. SME? Also welcome. Even companies with fewer than 10 employees can use the system because it is designed to scale in both directions.
This versatility is essential for companies that don’t fully understand the scale of an ERP change. The transition is massive and disruptive.
Moving into a modern ERP is a complete structural change that asks you to replace systems that touch every financial and operational workflow while your teams are still performing their day-to-day roles.
It’s open-heart surgery on the business because you’re changing the system that keeps the business running while the heart is still beating.
All of this depends on the partner supporting your implementation. ERP success is defined by experience, not software alone – projects fail when inexperienced partners underestimate scope, mismanage data, fail to prepare users or over-customise the system.
A strong partner keeps the focus on your core business outcomes. They guide the data migration. They manage change.
They refine reporting. They support your first month-end and ensure your users understand the system well enough to work confidently.
So, don’t stay stuck in the old systems because costs are making you wary. Instead, look to solutions that are built to take your current costs even lower while optimising your operations to the point where you are seeing significant ROI.
