The Acumatica Summit for 2024 was held last week at the Wynn Las Vegas, between January 28th – January 30th. We gained insight into the road ahead: milestones for 24R1, 24R2 and 25R1, and it looks like we’re shifting gears! From incorporating advanced automation to adopting a more modern UI, Acumatica doesn’t fail to impress!
The New Era
During the Day One Keynote Presentation, John Case, Acumatica CEO unveiled updated Acumatica logo, an update which represents where the company is and where we are going. It’s grounded in our rich past and reflects the evolution of who we are as a company and Community as we move forward together with clarity and purpose. John also highlighted perspectives on today’s economic, business, and technological landscape and outlined an aggressive approach for seizing great opportunity.
Simply put, Acumatica is just getting started.
New Product Innovations
During our Day Two Keynote Presentation, we highlighted new Acumatica 2024 R1 features. The Construction Edition will boast a real-time field reporting feature for connected communication. The Manufacturing Edition will have new capabilities for reporting operations and planning kits. The Distribution Edition will provide enhancements for managing sales allocations. And the Retail Edition will help companies more efficiently manage sales with Shopify and Amazon.
The upcoming product roadmap includes plans to double-down on AI technology investments, supporting analytical decision-making, and more. We also announced that our new user interface, built to completely revamp and enhance the user experience, will be previewed in 2024 R1.
The Road Ahead: New Features
Real-time Orchestration: Future builds will likely focus on achieving real-time order orchestration. This means orders can be processed and fulfilled almost instantly, improving customer satisfaction and reducing delivery times.
Intelligent Automation: Advanced AI and machine learning algorithms will be integrated into order orchestration systems, allowing for intelligent automation. These systems will learn from historical data to predict and optimize order processing, reducing errors and enhancing efficiency.
Cross-Channel Integration: Seamless integration across various sales channels will become a standard. This will involve unifying online and offline orders, providing a consistent experience for customers regardless of where the purchase is made.
Dynamic Personalization: The future will see product bundles that dynamically adapt to individual customer preferences and behaviors. AI algorithms will analyze data to create personalized bundles that better cater to the unique needs and interests of each customer.
Supply Chain Collaboration: Enhanced assemblies will involve closer collaboration within the supply chain. Real-time communication and data sharing among suppliers, manufacturers, and distributors will optimize the assembly process and improve overall supply chain efficiency.
Advanced Predictive Analytics: Future Distribution Requirements Planning (DRP) systems will likely leverage advanced predictive analytics powered by machine learning algorithms. These systems will analyze historical data, market trends, and other relevant factors to predict demand more accurately, enabling better inventory management and order fulfillment.
Dynamic Network Optimization: The distribution network will become more dynamic and adaptive. Advanced optimization algorithms will continuously assess and optimize the distribution network based on factors such as transportation costs, lead times, and changes in demand patterns.
Integration with E-Commerce Platforms: As e-commerce continues to grow, DRP systems will seamlessly integrate with various e-commerce platforms. This integration will allow for more accurate demand forecasting and fulfillment, considering the unique challenges posed by online sales such as the need for quick order processing and last-mile delivery.
Modern UI: Acumatica’s Calendar Board will witness a UI makeover and integration with Outlook. The release steps for the Modern UI are: 24R1 – Public Preview, 24R2 – Controlled Release, and 25R1 – General Availability. The changes cover 80% of application screens converted with the availability of conversion tools in the first release, the full conversion of application screens and the availability of customization tools in Beta for the second release, while the third release covers a total conversion of application screens and full availability of customization tools.