After more than three years in the doldrums, the enterprise resource planning (ERP) software market is bouncing back. Demand for such core business applications (that integrate manufacturing, finance, logistics and other activities) is expected to rise at a compound annual growth rate of 3% over the next four years, according to sector specialist AMR Research.

The consultancy predicts the market will rise from a base of $13.4bn in 2003 to hit $15.8bn in 2008. “While 3% may not set your hair on fire, we’ve revised it from an earlier estimate of 1%, and it is a marked improvement of the -1% [growth rate] of years past,” says Dave O’Brien, head of AMR Research’s Quantitative Research Group.

The company’s estimates only cover the core ERP sector and exclude ancillary areas such as customer relationship management, supplier relationship management and product lifecycle management.