Reporters and Analysts Spotlight Rootstock Low-Code ERP in Their Market Coverage

In August, Rootstock Software unveiled its Low-Code, Business-Driven Cloud ERP software release. The new release empowers everyday business users to swiftly tailor and deploy mobile applications, change processes and add AI and analytics without having to wait for busy IT departments or expensive consultants. These capabilities enthralled industry analysts and reporters alike, resulting in significant coverage of Rootstock’s new solution.

Steve Brooks with Enterprise Times covered the launch. In his story, “Rootstock delivers low code enabled ERP,” Brooks reports that Rootstock now has “a truly, next-generation ERP solution powered by the Salesforce platform,” as it has effectively “enabled the Salesforce Lightning low-code environment within an ERP solution.”

Brooks added, “It is how Rootstock is leveraging Salesforce (Lightning Experience) LEX that is important. While many applications are leveraging the modern user interface that LEX provides, Rootstock has gone a step further. The LEX platform enables Salesforce administrators to quickly create applications using clicks, not code… Rootstock is enabling customers to create mobile applications within the boundaries of the ERP system on Salesforce One.”

Brooks concluded that this is an important update for two reasons. First, it provides the power of the Salesforce platform to Rootstock ERP, which is something few, if any, ERP solutions have right now. And second, Brooks noted that Rootstock seems to be “ahead in delivering this functionality” when compared to other Salesforce App vendors.

Phil Wainewright, also featured the release on Diginomica. In his story, “On Rootstock’s low-code ERP and enabling the touchless factory, he noted that “these new capabilities arrive in the market at a time, when manufacturers are having to adapt to massive change caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, including disruptions to supply and demand, switching office-based staff to working from home, and introducing new social distancing routines on the shop floor as they restart production.”

Legacy systems have hampered companies in their ability to adapt to today’s new norm. But, having next-generation cloud ERP equips companies with the agility they need to react to ongoing changes.

In his coverage, Wainewright honed in on the need for manufacturers to implement safety measures in light of the pandemic: “In the same way that shopping at the supermarket has become a contactless experience for most of us, so factory work is going to have to become touchless. But the touchless factory is a huge undertaking… Rootstock’s low-code cloud ERP release with its ability to roll out touchless processes on mobile devices couldn’t have come out at a more propitious time.”

CRO David Stephans provided an example of a manufacturer applying these practices. Despite COVID-19 disruptions, this Rootstock customer completely reconfigured their plant and ended up having one of their best months ever.

Stephans added, “They put touchless entry on their factory shortly after this whole thing happened, so people could get in and out with a badge, swipe in touchless form, and not have to handle the doors and things like that … They went through the whole factory and analyzed what they might have to touch, then spaced machinery out. They sent the back office team home, that’s fewer people, and they can operate fine.”

Senior Solution Architect David Burton also shared a mobile app use case. “A customer created a simple application to check inventory on the shop floor and update stock counts on a mobile phone. It’s a typical example of a simple mobile app that guides factory staff through the steps in a process. Functions on the mobile device, such as barcode scanning through the camera or a Bluetooth-connected barcode reader, are easy to add.”

In a COVID-19 world, Wainewright concluded that Rootstock’s low-code ERP makes it more feasible to replace manual, paper-based processes with safer, socially distanced practices.

Another analyst, Cindy Jutras, president at Mint Jutras and an expert on enterprise applications, highlighted the release in a Market Alert she authored –  “Rootstock’s Low-Code, Business- Driven Cloud ERP Release Couldn’t Have Come at a Better Time.”

In her report, Jutras noted that Rootstock’s ERP now takes full advantage of Salesforce’s ‘clicks not code’ approach to deliver agility, speed and intelligence to its Cloud ERP customers. She pointed out several key capabilities in Rootstock’s Low-Code ERP:

• The “Clicks not Code” approach Rootstock has taken allows the business user to take action in real time, but not with a single canned response. Instead, those on the front lines making the decisions have the opportunity to create and/or tailor one or more possible responses.
• While it is possible to create entirely new “apps” through the App Builder, it is actually far more likely that a customer will take an existing Rootstock mobile app or process flow and modify it to their requirements.
• Rootstock’s process of embedding analytics within its ERP adds value. It deals with high density data without clutter by visualizing data in the most succinct and meaningful way. As a result, customers can click on charts, drill down, get answers, which spur the next set of questions. Ultimately this brings a customer to the supporting data in its ERP.
• Rootstock delivers AI by taking advantage of Salesforce’s Einstein Discovery and Einstein Prediction Builder. The power of any type of AI comes from its ability to detect patterns in data. And there are some very simplistic ways that Rootstock has made processes smarter.

Like the other experts, Jutras concluded, “Rootstock’s low-code, business driven cloud ERP release could not have come at a more opportune time. And unlike legacy, on-premise applications environments that take weeks and months to upgrade, as a cloud-native application, you can take advantage of this innovation now. If you are a current Rootstock customer, don’t delay in learning all you can about how and what is available and avail yourself of those capabilities with all haste.

If you are currently running a legacy, on-premise solution that limits the speed with which you change, you have a problem that is not going away on its own…Now is the time to look for a new solution. You might want to consider looking at Rootstock. After all, Rootstock has taken advantage of all the right equipment to get its solution in the best shape of its life.”

In summary, three great stories about Rootstock’s low-code ERP – but if you’d like more background on the benefits that low-code customizations can deliver, download our white paper, “Get Manufacturing Agility with Low-Code ERP.”