Extending ERP is the focus of this document, and covers utilizing more functionality, extending the footprint beyond the core ERP functionality and making decisions between ERP vendors and pure play or "Best of Breed" solutions.

The trade-off between Best of Breed functionality and ease of integration is no longer as simple as it once was. Over the generations, Enterprise Resource Planning has continued to expand, blurring the boundaries of core ERP functionality. The number of modules and the extent of functionality offered in the ERP suite have steadily grown over the past two decades. At the same time, the consolidation within the software industry is having a broader effect than just on ERP itself. ERP companies have also been gobbling up pure play or Best of Breed vendors that offer extensions to core ERP functionality. This is having a profound effect on the enterprise application vendor landscape and also on how ERP versus "Best of Breed" decisions are fundamentally made. More and more companies are exploring the limits of these boundaries and weighing decisions that balance integration efforts and the ability to upgrade to new releases against extended features, functions and advanced technology.