Even though businesses must work hard in order to keep pace with the rapid rate in which technology changes, the vendors that are actually creating the next wave of IT solutions must also stay on point with the evolving wants and needs of their corporate clients and customers.

In 2015, the biggest priorities for software developers and hardware manufacturers included Enterprise Resource Planning, the Internet of Things (IOT), and Customer Relationship Management to name just a few. But what were the top 10 business applications stories of 2015? Here with a quick recap is IT consultancy and support firm ProNetwork Solutions.

Oracle says the cloud is here to stay

In his keynote at Oracle OpenWorld 2015, Larry Ellison said nearly all of its applications have been taken to the cloud and stressed that this trend was here to stay. However, he also took a swipe at enterprise IT rivals IBM and SAP claiming, “They are nowhere.”

Action-orientated apps from Salesforce

The reason why Salesforce’s Adam Gross and Stephanie Buscemi talked about the IoT app economy and action-orientated business intelligence at Dreamforce 2015 was because its IoT cloud service and upgrade to Wave Analytics are primarily concerned with these two fields.

SAP unveils S/4Hana

In what CEO Bill McDermott described as “our biggest launch in 23 years, if not in the entire history of the company,” SAP unveiled S/4Hana, an ERM product that will “help customers run simple.”

Cloud applications mean business agility for Al Rayan Bank

Thanks to the cloud applications it utilises, Al Rayan Bank claims that changes can be made more quickly than other financial institutions. This is somewhat essential for the only Sharia-compliant bank in the western world.

Van de Velde upgrades Infor ERP

In order to increase supply chain efficiency and reduce lead times, lingerie manufacturer Van de Velde has plans to upgrade its Infor ERP within the next 18 months.

The omni-channel customer experience

In recent years, brands have been trying to personalise the browsing and buying experience for customers. But now, pundits say that the future of the customer experience will be all about “omni-channel” instead.

SAP predicts what digital transformation means for CIOs

According to SAP Europe president Franck Cohen, a wave of digital transformation threatens to sideline CIOs. What’s more, he also predicts that this job role “may become obsolete” in the not too distant future as well.

Waste not, want not with the IoT?

Even though the fridge has long been regarded as the appliance that will bring the IoT into households with its ability to tell you when you’re running short on cheese, it lacks commercial availability. Therefore, some are suggesting that sensors could be more beneficial for waste instead.

Welsh Water introduces billing replacement programme

Welsh Water’s billing replacement programme, which processes more than 1.1 million meter readings every year and issues £800m worth of bills, is vital to the smooth running of the business.

Transfer social media creativity from timelines to desks

Can businesses harness the creativity and energy that employees use to browse and interact with social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn to boost productivity? Some are exploring the possibility of turning social technologies to account for business applications.