1 research outputs found
The importance of Industry 4.0 technologies when selecting an ERP system – An empirical study
The paper deals with the issue of the impact of the “Industry 4.0” concept on the process
of selection of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Firstly, review of the literature
regarding the ERP system selection is presented, with the emphasis on the role of the new
technologies in such selection. Secondly, the content of the term “Industry 4.0” is discussed, and
put into context with the nature of ERP systems. The main part of the article then presents the
results of the survey conducted among the medium and large industrial companies in the Czech
Republic. Employees in the position of decision makers in the matter of selecting an ERP system
were asked to participate. The survey used the form of questionnaire with close-ended questions
with five-point scales, and investigated the attitude of the Czech manufacturing companies to the
selected technologies of “Industry 4.0” and the importance of particular criteria for the selection
of new ERP system. Investigated criteria were divided into 9 groups, where 5 of them were
derived from previous research on the topic of ERP systems selections, and dealt with system
price, portability, modularity, user experience and security. The remaining 4 groups were aimed
at the selected technologies of “Industry 4.0” – big data, system integration, cloud computing and
automatic identification and data capture. Kruskal-Wallis test and Neményi method of post-hoc
analysis were used to compare the importance of particular criteria expressed by the respondents.
The results show that although the companies are aware of the future challenges raised by the
“Fourth Industrial Revolution,” in the selection of ERP systems they still emphasise mostly the
previously used criteria such as price or modularity. As for the criteria connected to “Industry 4.0,”
the ability of a system to deal with big data was assessed as the most important one