Clorox's $500 Million Digitization Plan Shows ERP And AI Must Advance Together

The Common Question

Should we upgrade our ERP system before investing in AI tools?

The Lesson in This Case

Manufacturers are pulling back on operational software investment sharply – only 33% of surveyed organizations plan to spend on ERPs and related systems this year, down 60% from last year – even as AI's value depends almost entirely on the data quality those systems provide. Companies seeing real gains, including Clorox with its $500 million digitization plan, are treating ERP modernization and AI adoption as one continuous project, not a binary choice between old infrastructure and new technology. Senior leaders who approve AI spending without first auditing the cleanliness and integration of their ERP data are not accelerating results – they are accelerating the speed at which they get wrong answers.

Originally reported by Manufacturing Dive. Read the full story here.