The ERP world hasn't slowed down at all, if anything, Q1 2026 made it clear that the industry is at a genuine inflection point: AI pricing models are landing, legacy migration failures are making headlines, and the M&A wave is accelerating.

Tennant Company's ERP Failure Draws Shareholder Scrutiny — Simply Wall St — April 2, 2026

Tennant Company disclosed that serious problems with its new North American ERP system severely disrupted order entry, shipping, and fulfillment — causing enough financial damage to trigger shareholder probes. This is a textbook case of ERP implementation risk materializing at scale: a mid-market manufacturer with a complex distribution footprint, a system cutover that goes sideways, and immediate market consequences. For anyone advising on ERP projects, this is a real-time case study in what happens when go-live readiness gets misjudged.

ERP Is Dead, Says Rimini Street CTO. Do We Believe Him? — iTWire — March 31, 2026

Rimini Street's CTO made the provocative claim that traditional ERP software is effectively dead and that agentic AI is already reshaping the category. The article digs into whether this is genuine market signal or vendor positioning from a company that has long profited from keeping customers off the upgrade treadmill. Regardless of motive, the underlying question — whether monolithic ERP suites will survive the shift to composable, AI-first architectures — is one every consultant and buyer should be grappling with heading into the second half of 2026.

Oracle NetSuite AI Connector Service Upgrades — March 31, 2026

Oracle NetSuite rolled out significant updates to its AI Connector Service, introducing prebuilt prompts, role-based controls, and domain-specific "skills" that help external AI systems interact with NetSuite's ERP data. The updates target mid-market companies that want to plug third-party AI assistants (including OpenAI models) into their financials and operations without building custom integrations. This is NetSuite's clearest move yet toward becoming AI-model-agnostic — a sharp contrast to SAP and Microsoft, which are pushing proprietary AI agents.

SAP Signals Shift to AI Usage-Based Pricing — April 1, 2026

SAP publicly signaled plans to gradually move from traditional SaaS subscription pricing to AI usage-based billing — a structural shift in how enterprise software gets monetized. The move targets large enterprises already deep in the S/4HANA ecosystem and reflects SAP's bet that consumption-based AI revenue will outpace seat-based licensing over time. For customers, this introduces new budget unpredictability. For competitors, it raises the question of whether the entire ERP pricing model is about to be rewritten.

Microsoft Introduces Service Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot — April 1, 2026

Microsoft launched Service Agent, which brings Dynamics 365 Customer Service context, insights, and actions directly into Microsoft 365 Copilot. This targets organizations already running the Microsoft stack and blurs the line between productivity tools and ERP, giving frontline workers access to service data without leaving Teams or Outlook.

Odoo and Partena Unveil HR and Payroll Partnership — April 2, 2026

Belgian ERP firm Odoo and HR services provider Partena Professional announced a partnership to create a fully integrated HR and payroll solution for the Belgian and broader European market. This targets SMBs and mid-market companies that need localized payroll compliance baked into their ERP rather than layered on top.

Oracle Launches AI-Backed NetSuite Restaurant Operations — April 2, 2026

Oracle launched NetSuite Restaurant Operations, a new platform that consolidates back-office functions by connecting data from Oracle Symphony Cloud and other POS systems into a single AI-powered management layer. It targets multi-location restaurant operators and franchise groups looking for real-time visibility across locations.

Doss Raises $55M Series B for AI Inventory Management — March 24, 2026

Doss, an AI-powered inventory and procurement platform, raised a $55 million Series B co-led by Madrona and Premji Invest, with participation from Intuit Ventures, Theory Ventures, General Catalyst, and Contrary Capital. Founded in 2022, Doss originally focused on core accounting but pivoted to procurement and inventory management that plugs directly into existing finance and ERP systems — effectively partnering with AI-native ERPs like Rillet and Campfire rather than competing with them. The raise signals growing investor conviction that the ERP ecosystem is fragmenting into best-of-breed AI modules, with inventory and supply chain traceability as a key wedge.

Adronite Secures $5M Series A for Codebase Intelligence — February 24, 2026

Adronite, which provides codebase-level intelligence and security-first deployment tools for complex enterprise environments, closed a $5 million Series A. While not an ERP vendor itself, Adronite targets the exact kind of regulated, multi-system enterprise estates where ERP implementations live, helping organizations map, audit, and secure sprawling software portfolios. The funding signals that investors see "ERP adjacency" in the infrastructure tooling layer, particularly for defense, manufacturing, and financial services verticals where software complexity is accelerating.

SAP to Acquire Reltio — March 27, 2026

SAP announced its agreement to acquire Reltio, a cloud-native master data management provider, to strengthen SAP Business Data Cloud and make both SAP and non-SAP enterprise data AI-ready. Reltio's platform uses AI-based entity resolution to unify and cleanse data across fragmented enterprise systems into a single "golden record" — a prerequisite for the agentic AI workflows SAP is betting its future on. The deal — terms undisclosed, expected to close in Q2-Q3 2026 — directly addresses SAP's weakness in cross-platform data harmonization and mirrors Salesforce's earlier acquisition of Informatica to underpin its own Data Cloud.

Hg Completes $6.4B Acquisition of OneStream — April 1, 2026

London-based private equity firm Hg completed its all-cash acquisition of OneStream for $6.4 billion, taking the corporate performance management platform private less than two years after its KKR-backed IPO. OneStream provides a unified finance management platform covering financial close, consolidation, reporting, planning, and forecasting — functions that sit squarely in the Office of the CFO adjacent to ERP.

Avalara Acquires Versori to Accelerate AI-Native Tax Integration — March 6, 2026

Tax compliance automation giant Avalara acquired Versori, an AI-driven integration platform, to improve its ability to connect with ERP, e-commerce, marketplace, and financial systems worldwide in real time. Versori's team joined Avalara, and the technology will be used to build faster, more reliable integrations between Avalara's tax engine and the ERP systems it needs to talk to, including NetSuite, SAP, and Dynamics 365.

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