Pressure on ERP sales and pricing may be coming from Open Source ERP. A recent IDC survery shows penetration rates for open source ERP at 9%.

This level of adoption compares with the market share of some leading ERP vendors and shows that open source ERP may have reached a tipping point for take-up. The appeal of open source ERP products like OpenBravo is attributed by IDC to the lack of upfront license fees and a generally lower cost of ownership.

OpenBravo and others now have the features to compete effectively in the mid-market and established ERP vendors may be forced to reduce prices as a result.

Certainly for CIOs or CFOs looking for an agile, lower cost and lower TCO option for ERP, open source and OpenBravo now have a compelling case to make.