How opaque ERP vendors' AI pricing models are: almost impossible to know the cost

No CIO can currently get a concrete overview of what AI in an ERP system will cost. That is the assessment of ERP specialist Herbert Nathan, who has gone through the pricing models of the largest ERP vendors.

His conclusion is that the models are opaque enough to make the total cost almost impossible to know in advance. The point is aimed at IT leaders who are being asked to plan budgets and business cases for AI features inside their core business systems, but who cannot get a clear figure from the vendors.

The material available here is only a short teaser for the full piece. It sets out Nathan's overall verdict and says the article explains the reasons behind it, but it does not name the vendors he reviewed, describe how their pricing models work, or give any examples of the cost components involved. Those details are not covered here.

What the teaser does make clear is the core problem for buyers: AI is becoming part of ERP offerings, yet the pricing is difficult enough to decipher that organisations cannot reliably forecast what they will end up paying. For CIOs in Denmark and the Nordics weighing AI adoption in their ERP landscape, the takeaway is that cost uncertainty is a real issue to raise with vendors before committing.