ERP as the Foundation of Enterprise Autonomy: A Managerial Framework for Assessing Organizational Readiness for Agentic AI

This paper introduces a framework linking AI capability layers (automation, predictive AI, generative AI, AI agents, and agentic AI) to levels of ERP maturity. These levels include: data integration, process standardization, governance clarity, and real-time operational visibility. We argue that AI performance depends critically on the underlying ERP systems that are in place and introduce the idea of “organizational readiness for AI”. This idea is defined through a measure of the alignment between ERP maturity levels and the degree of autonomy that the organization would wish to delegate to AI systems. This, then, views ERP systems as the key enablers for autonomous execution. The framework offers managers a structured diagnostic tool to assess whether their organizations are ready to move from simple automation to greater levels of enterprise autonomy.