The JD Edwards talent shortage is creating significant challenges for organizations that depend on experienced professionals to maintain, support, and modernize their ERP environments. As longtime employees approach retirement and fewer professionals enter the JD Edwards ecosystem, companies face difficult decisions about preserving institutional knowledge, developing internal expertise, and securing reliable support.

At INFOCUS 2026, Aaron Chappell, Senior Vice President at Surety Systems, led a panel discussion titled Protecting Your ERP Investment: The JDE Talent Crisis. Drawing on real-world experiences from JD Edwards customers, the discussion explored four approaches to addressing the talent gap: managed services, independent consultants, internal talent development, and external recruitment.

What’s Driving the JD Edwards Talent Shortage?

Chappell identified several factors contributing to the shrinking JD Edwards talent pool. An aging workforce is among the most immediate concerns, with many experienced developers, CNC administrators, and functional specialists nearing retirement. Meanwhile, fewer new implementations mean fewer opportunities for professionals to enter the ecosystem.

ERP migrations and acquisitions also contribute to the shortage. When organizations transition to SAP, Oracle Fusion, or other platforms, experienced JD Edwards employees often retrain in those systems rather than remain in the JDE market.

Chappell also highlighted a shift in the consulting landscape following Oracle’s announcement that EnterpriseOne 9.2 would be the final major code line release. As organizations moved away from large-scale upgrade projects toward continuous innovation and managed services, independent consulting opportunities changed. Some experienced consultants retired early, while others transitioned to different ERP platforms.

Together, these trends have created a talent challenge that organizations cannot address through traditional recruiting alone.

Managed Services: Reducing Dependency on Individual Experts

For organizations facing multiple retirements, outsourcing can provide access to expertise that would be difficult to maintain internally.

Kevin McAlexander, Senior Director of IT Corporate Systems at Unity Group, described how three retirements between 2020 and 2022 prompted his organization to expand its relationship with managed services provider Navisite. Rather than replace its last internal developer, Unity Group transitioned development responsibilities to a broader external team.

The arrangement provided immediate access to multiple developers while eliminating dependence on one employee’s availability. However, McAlexander emphasized an important distinction: Unity Group retained its internal functional support team.

Five experienced business analysts continue to translate business requirements, explain customizations, and coordinate with external developers. This structure combines outsourced technical capacity with internal business knowledge.

Another panelist described consolidating multiple vendors after discovering that coordinating between infrastructure, CNC, and application support providers consumed substantial internal resources. Vendor consolidation helped establish clearer accountability while addressing total cost of ownership.

The lesson is that successful outsourcing requires more than transferring support tickets. Organizations must communicate business context, define shared outcomes, and retain sufficient internal expertise to manage the relationship effectively.

Independent Consultants Provide Flexible Expertise

A second approach involves maintaining relationships with trusted consultants who can supplement internal teams as needed.

Lisa Castura of Rawlings Sporting Goods explained how her organization developed relationships with consultants during its migration from JD Edwards World to EnterpriseOne between 2022 and 2024. Rather than ending those relationships after implementation, Rawlings continued budgeting consulting hours for specialized projects and functional support.

This provides what the panel described as dynamic capacity: the ability to increase or decrease consulting support depending on workload and expertise requirements.

However, relying on individual consultants introduces continuity risks. Panelist Sema Patel recommended maintaining thorough documentation and pairing senior specialists with junior employees.

Patel shared an example in which a junior employee successfully assumed responsibility after a senior resource departed with only two weeks’ notice. Although the transition initially required additional time and effort, the junior employee’s previous exposure to the work proved invaluable.

The experience reinforced the importance of transferring knowledge before an unexpected departure occurs.

Building a JD Edwards Talent Pipeline From Within

Internal talent development, described throughout the discussion as the “farm system,” generated the greatest audience interest.

Rather than competing for scarce experienced professionals, organizations can identify employees with strong business knowledge, technical aptitude, and an interest in learning JD Edwards.

Tony Price of Carolina Biological Supply described successfully transitioning an employee responsible for DevOps on web platforms into CNC responsibilities. Within approximately three to six months, she was handling day-to-day CNC support.

Rawlings Sporting Goods found similar success by identifying a warehouse employee who demonstrated exceptional curiosity and testing capabilities during its EnterpriseOne migration. Although he initially lacked extensive JD Edwards expertise, his understanding of business processes made him a strong candidate for a business analyst position.

These examples demonstrate that existing business knowledge can be as valuable as technical experience when identifying future JD Edwards professionals.

Panelists emphasized several practices for developing internal talent:

• Identify curious, motivated employees who demonstrate problem-solving skills during testing and implementation projects.
• Establish structured shadowing programs with defined milestones and transition dates.
• Document system configurations, customizations, and decision-making processes.
• Gradually assign support responsibilities while senior employees review the work.
• Create career development opportunities that encourage employees to remain with the organization.

Not every transition will succeed as originally planned. Price described an employee whose move from data analysis into development proved unsuitable. Instead, the employee assumed responsibility for coordinating with offshore developers, preserving his value to the organization.

The broader takeaway is that effective talent development requires flexibility, not simply training employees to fill predetermined positions.

Recruiting Experienced JDE Professionals Remains Challenging

Hiring externally remains an option, but panelists acknowledged significant obstacles.

Castura described difficulties finding qualified candidates willing to meet Rawlings’ hybrid workplace requirements. Experienced JD Edwards professionals often have opportunities to work remotely and may be unwilling to relocate or accept more restrictive arrangements.

She also shared an experience in which a promising candidate declined an offer, forcing the organization to restart its search. Contract-to-hire arrangements can reduce some hiring risks, but unsuccessful placements still consume months of valuable time.

For smaller IT departments, finding candidates who combine functional, development, and CNC expertise is particularly difficult.

Organizations must therefore evaluate which skills are essential immediately, which can be developed internally, and where external expertise offers the greatest value.

Aligning Talent Planning With Your ERP Roadmap

The panel also addressed how talent strategies should evolve alongside future technology decisions.

Organizations planning upgrades, cloud migrations, or infrastructure changes must anticipate how their technical requirements will shift. Price noted that Carolina Biological Supply’s potential transition from on-premises IBM i infrastructure to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure could significantly change its CNC and development staffing needs.

Other panelists described using external consultants to increase capacity during Release 26 upgrades while continuing to build internal functional expertise.

These experiences highlight why workforce planning should be part of an organization’s broader ERP strategy rather than a reaction to individual departures.

Protecting JD Edwards Requires Protecting Institutional Knowledge

The JD Edwards talent crisis has no single solution. Managed services offer broader technical coverage, independent consultants provide flexibility, internal development builds continuity, and external recruitment fills specialized gaps.

The strongest approach may combine several of these strategies based on organizational size, existing capabilities, and future technology plans.

Ultimately, protecting a JD Edwards investment means ensuring that critical knowledge does not reside with one employee or vendor. By documenting expertise, developing promising internal employees, and establishing dependable support relationships, organizations can reduce operational risk while preparing their ERP environments for continued innovation.

Want more?

Explore more content and resources to help you get the most from your JD Edwards investment:

• Visit the Quest Learn Library for blogs, how-to demos, and on-demand sessions.
• Connect with peers in one of our Quest JD Edwards Community User Groups to swap stories, ask questions, and share tips with other users facing the same challenges.
• Bookmark LearnJDE.com for updates from JD Edwards development.

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