Why Everest ERP is the Future of Enterprise Software: A Deep Dive with Co-Founder Franz Faerber

The enterprise software landscape is evolving at breakneck speed, driven by AI innovation and the unique demands of modern subscription-based businesses. While many companies are retrofitting existing systems with AI capabilities, Everest Systems took a different approach: building the world's first AI-native ERP from the ground up.

From SAP Veteran to ERP Revolutionary

Franz's journey to co-founding Everest wasn't typical. After 26 years at SAP working on platform development and data management, he had accumulated decades of insights about what could be done better in enterprise software. "If you are 26 years in an ERP company, you always think of what could be done better," Franz explains. "When you have the opportunity to build the biggest software system in the world from scratch, you cannot say no."

That opportunity came through investors who connected Franz with co-founders Sandeep Chopra and Joachim Fitzer. Five and a half years later, Everest has emerged as a groundbreaking solution built specifically for the modern era.

What Makes a "True ERP"?

The distinction between a true ERP and a collection of point solutions is fundamental. As Franz emphasizes, "You want to be the system of records, otherwise you are not an ERP."

True ERP goes beyond individual applications to deliver:

• End-to-end business processes rather than isolated functionality

• True Subscription Billing rather than add-on apps

• Seamless integration that works by design, not by configuration

• Guaranteed data consistency across all modules

• Unified lifecycle management for the entire system

This integration advantage becomes clear in practical scenarios. Consider expense approvals: in an integrated system, HR data automatically flows to finance, ensuring approval hierarchies stay current during organizational changes. In a fragmented system, this requires constant manual synchronization and creates opportunities for errors.

AI-Native vs. AI-Enhanced: The Critical Difference

The difference between AI-native and AI-enhanced systems is like the difference between central air conditioning and window units. Franz uses this analogy to illustrate a crucial point: "AI native means that your whole processing of your whole system is based on AI, be it workflow, be it execution, be it how you do extensions, be it how you build applications."

This architectural decision enables Everest to rethink fundamental challenges that plague traditional systems:

• Configuration becomes intuitive rather than menu-driven

• Extensibility moves to business users instead of requiring IT expertise

• Lifecycle management becomes streamlined and automated

Built for the Subscription Economy

Legacy ERP systems were designed for manufacturing and traditional business models from decades past. Their architectures reflect those assumptions, making them struggle with modern subscription-based, usage-based, and multi-entity business models.

Everest was purpose-built for software-as-a-service companies, naturally handling:

• Time-based contracts and processes

• Dynamic pricing models

• Complex revenue recognition (ASC 606/IFRS 15)

• Multi-entity consolidation

• Cloud cost management: increasingly critical as cloud and AI costs become major budget items

"We put so much effort on managing our travel costs, which is just ridiculous in comparison to the other costs," Franz notes, referring to how companies meticulously track travel expenses while neglecting cloud infrastructure costs that often dwarf them.

Revolutionary Features That Set Everest Apart

Eve: The AI Agent That Democratizes Development

Everest's AI agent, Eve, represents a breakthrough in enterprise software extensibility. Business users can now create extensions using natural language, test them against production data in sandboxed environments, and deploy them without IT involvement. This eliminates the traditional bottleneck of requiring developers for every customization.

Insert-Only Architecture: Bulletproof Auditability

Perhaps most revolutionary is Everest's "insert-only" architecture - the system never deletes or overwrites data. Everything is versioned, creating an immutable audit trail. The system can even be restored to any point in time, providing unprecedented compliance and auditability capabilities.

Sandbox Environments: Risk-Free Innovation

Everest is the only ERP offering production-data sandboxes, enabling users to test configurations, imports, and customizations against real data without any risk to the live system.

Real-Time Decision Making Over Backward-Looking Reports

Traditional ERP systems excel at historical reporting but struggle with real-time insights. Everest's AI-powered approach enables:

• Dynamic data access in any dimension or format

• Automated insight generation

• Proactive action triggers based on data patterns

• User-generated analytics without requiring specialized skills

This shift from backward-looking reporting to forward-looking decision support represents a fundamental change in how CFOs and finance teams can operate.

Built for Scale, Designed for Speed

Everest's architecture delivers true scalability through multiple innovations:

• Unlimited data ingestion without performance degradation

• Process-based architecture that scales horizontally

• Sandbox-first data processing that keeps production systems clean

• Cloud-native infrastructure that automatically adapts to demand

This scalability isn't just theoretical - it's designed to support companies from startup to enterprise scale without requiring architectural changes or migrations.

The Accelerating Future

Perhaps most striking is Franz's observation about the pace of change: "The industry is moving so much faster than we all have thought about it. Look at SaaS companies... The fundamental business processes are changing so much."

This acceleration makes the choice of ERP platform more critical than ever. Companies need systems that can adapt at the speed of business change, not systems that require years-long implementation projects for basic modifications.

Why This Matters Now

As AI reshapes every aspect of business operations, the foundation becomes crucial. Legacy systems trying to add AI capabilities face the same challenges as adding air conditioning to an existing house. It's possible, but it's never as effective as designing the system with AI at its core from the beginning.

Everest represents what enterprise software looks like when built for the AI era: intelligent, adaptive, and powerful enough to handle whatever business requirements emerge next. For CFOs and finance leaders facing increasing pressure to drive real-time insights and operational efficiency, that foundation may make all the difference.

The question isn't whether AI will transform enterprise software, it's whether your current system will be able to evolve fast enough to keep up. Based on Franz's insights and Everest's architectural innovations, the company's building from an AI-native foundation today will have significant advantages in the rapidly evolving business landscape ahead.

Let’s talk about how Everest Systems can transform your environment.

The future of ERP is here  and it’s Native AI. Let’s build it together.

Cameron Ackbury, CPA