[improv32]

There is a huge amount of these $20 bills lying around in fact. The thing is they're not that easy to pick up. These ERP systems are often fairly bespoke, designed for the workflow and needs of specific industries, or even specific niches in industries.

I work for one of these bespoke ERP companies, our niche is CNC machine shops (huge industy you don't hear much about). Our software was grown organically out of tools we made to manage our own CNC shop, spun out into its own company. That deep domain knowledge is what allows us to make a competitive product.

If this kind of stuff interests you we're hiring: https://www.proshoperp.com/company/careers/

[liotier]

> These ERP systems are often fairly bespoke

That is the paradox with ERP: they are sold as off-the-shelf solutions but customization costs twice the licenses and always ends up producing a bespoke monster.

[AstralStorm]

I'd liken them to LEGOs. SAP sells modules (bricks) and integration (services to make the bricks do what you need).

They also sell some easy systems, like a LEGO car, but usually it's better to strip them down and reuse the parts of what you need is a house.

[osrec]

But the end result always requires you to cut/reshape the darn Lego bricks themselves, because the modules never quite fit the use case perfectly, so consultants are brought in to hack it all into some sort of workable shape.