Health and pharmaceutical companies in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) are embracing cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems at ever higher rates. It’s a trend especially evident among nutraceutical, wellness and natural health businesses which are scaling rapidly and expanding globally. In this article we explore the combination of market forces and industry shifts – Stringent regulatory requirements, supply chain disruptions, complex research and development (R&D) needs, rising digital maturity, and active investment and expansion trends – that is propelling these companies toward cloud ERP solutions.
Globally, ERP adoption is at an all-time high – market spending reached $147.7 billion in 2025 with 70% of large enterprises relying on ERP – and ANZ firms are part of this wave. For all businesses, adopting cloud ERP is now accepted as one of the most strategic ways to expand faster, move sharper and keep decisions flowing in real time. In the sections below, we delve into each major driver behind this shift and illustrate how cloud ERP is positioned as a response to these challenges and opportunities.
Stringent regulatory pressure and compliance requirements
Regulatory compliance is a defining pressure in the health and pharma sector, and it’s a key driver for cloud ERP adoption too. Australian and New Zealand companies must adhere to rigorous standards – from Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) regulations to global Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and quality standards. Good compliance demands meticulous record-keeping, batch traceability and frequent audits. This means are expected to provide detailed evidence of product safety, quality, and efficacy to regulators, which can be daunting without integrated systems.
Cloud ERP systems help by embedding compliance and traceability into day-to-day operations. For example, Life-Space Group – a leading probiotics and supplements company – runs a TGA-licensed manufacturing facility and uses NetSuite ERP to manage quality testing and materials checks at every step. This ensures that from raw ingredient arrival to finished product, all data – certificates of analysis, test results, approvals – is captured in one system for audit readiness. Modern ERP solutions, like the one used by Life-Space Group, offer modules for electronic batch records, quality control workflows and automated audit trails. The result is radically simplified compliance with GMP, ISO and health authority guidelines through the automation of documentation needed for inspections.
Full traceability of raw materials and finished goods via lot and serial tracking also enables rapid product recalls when required. For example, Life Cykel – a mushroom nutraceutical company – recognised that entering overseas retail markets would demand “a full recall process” and the ability to track every batch through manufacturing. By implementing NetSuite, Life Cykel gained end-to-end traceability from raw materials to customer, positioning them to meet strict recall and safety standards in the US market. In short, regulatory pressure is pushing ANZ health companies to adopt cloud ERPs that can guarantee compliance, ensure product authenticity, and mitigate risk through robust quality and tracking capabilities.
Supply chain disruptions and the need for resilience
Another catalyst for cloud ERP uptake is the increasingly complex and fragile supply chain environment. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed vulnerabilities in global supply chains, causing ingredient shortages, shipping delays and unpredictable demand spikes for health products. For example, during the pandemic there was a rapid rise in consumer demand for wellness products that challenged Life-Space Group’s operations. But they were not alone, many firms in nutraceuticals and pharma faced stockouts or delayed deliveries when their legacy systems couldn’t keep up. The cure was real-time visibility and agile supply chain management, which modern cloud ERPs are designed to deliver.
Traditional manual processes and disconnected spreadsheets also struggle with other common supply chain challenges. Things like managing volatile demand, coordinating multiple suppliers and manufacturers (often across countries) and ensuring cold-chain or quality conditions for perishable goods (vitamins, probiotics, vaccines).
Cloud ERP addresses this by providing a unified, end-to-end view of the supply chain – from procurement and inventory to distribution. In practice, this means an ANZ health company can track inventory across all warehouses in real time and get early warnings of potential shortages or expiries. Life Cykel’s NetSuite implementation, for example, yielded real-time visibility across multiple global warehouses, giving the company much tighter control over stock levels and expiring batches. In fact, the company reduced the time needed for weekly inventory reporting from 6–8 hours to just 10 minutes by eliminating manual data work.
Cloud ERP systems also introduce advanced demand planning and supply chain automation. Life-Space Group recently implemented NetSuite’s Demand Planning module to automate its supply chain planning and reduce reliance on guesswork. This kind of capability helps businesses respond faster to sudden demand shifts – such as a spike in immune supplement sales – by optimising production and inventory levels.
Supply chain resilience is further boosted by integrating suppliers and contract manufacturers into the ERP. With cloud access, partners can update production or shipping information directly and companies maintain a “bird’s eye view” of supply chain movements in real time. This transparency is especially crucial when products are time-sensitive or require special handling, as is common in pharma.
Complex R&D and product development cycles
Innovation is the lifeblood of nutraceutical and pharmaceutical companies – whether formulating a new probiotic blend or developing a novel supplement based on the latest science. However, R&D in this sector is complex. It involves managing long development cycles, extensive testing data, regulatory approval processes and collaboration between scientists, formulators and regulatory affairs teams.
Traditionally, bringing a new drug or supplement from concept to market could take years, but today the pressure is on to accelerate product development. Nutraceutical firms also face demands for continuous innovation (e.g. new flavours, formulations, personalised nutrition doses) to stay competitive
Cloud ERP platforms are increasingly seen as essential tools to manage this R&D complexity. They act as a central information backbone, consolidating all product data, formulations, and project plans in one place. For example, an ERP with a Product Lifecycle Management or formulation module allows tracking of each ingredient’s specifications, trial batch results, and changes in formula in a controlled manner. This ensures that when a product is ready for manufacturing, the transition from R&D to production is seamless and compliant.
Data-intensive R&D benefits from a single source of truth: cloud ERPs provide researchers and decision-makers instant access to up-to-date data on experiments, stability tests and costs, which can significantly speed up development cycles.
Another aspect is quality and change control during R&D. ERP systems enable strict version control of formulas/recipes and ensure that any changes undergo proper approvals – critical for regulated products. They also store all historical data, which is invaluable for regulatory submissions or scientific validations. Companies like Life-Space Group, with its science-based formulations, rely on a robust system to manage formulations and guarantee consistency as they introduce new products.
Then there’s cloud ERP’s advanced analytics capabilities which allow R&D teams to glean insights from large datasets – like clinical trial results or consumer feedback – faster than before. This analytical power helps identify market trends or efficacy signals that guide where to invest R&D efforts.
Rising digital maturity and transformation initiatives
The health and wellness industry in ANZ has historically been dominated by traditional practices and legacy IT systems – or even manual processes – but this is rapidly changing. Companies in this space are on digital transformation journeys, reaching new levels of digital maturity.
One clear indicator is the strategic priority given to cloud-first IT strategies. In 2024–2025, even highly regulated industries are moving core systems to the cloud, shedding the on-premise hesitations of the past.
Australian and New Zealand organisations across sectors increasingly view modern ERP as foundational for their digital journey. Which explains why the Australian ERP software market itself is growing steadily – valued around A$930 million in 2024 with continued expansion driven by digital investments.
A critical factor behind this shift is the recognition that data and real-time insights are now competitive differentiators. Cloud ERPs provide real-time dashboards, unified data models, and even AI/ML integrations that on-premise systems struggle to match.
In practical terms, an ANZ nutraceutical firm with a cloud ERP can have its executives monitor sales trends, inventory, and production performance from anywhere, on any device – enabling faster decision-making and more proactive management.
Additionally, integration and omni-channel capabilities are a hallmark of digital maturity that cloud ERPs support. Many health product companies are expanding their digital presence – selling direct-to-consumer via eCommerce, on marketplaces and through social channels. A cloud ERP like NetSuite can readily integrate with e-commerce platforms and 3PL logistics providers. Life Cykel’s experience is telling – by integrating key systems such as Shopify, Amazon Marketplace, and third-party logistics into NetSuite, they eliminated data silos and ensured all sales channels feed into one source of truth. This kind of ecosystem integration is only practical with a modern, open API cloud system.
Investment, growth, and global expansion trends
Robust growth in the health and wellness sector is both attracting and necessitating significant investment – another factor driving cloud ERP adoption. On one hand, global investors and large enterprises are pouring capital into Australasian nutraceutical and pharma companies, expecting them to scale up. A modern ERP would be a key asset for any turnaround or integration strategy by the acquirer.
On the other hand, local firms are eyeing international markets for growth, which introduces complexity that basic software cannot handle. Life-Space Group, for instance, expanded from Australia into China – launching on Alibaba’s Tmall and Taobao marketplaces – which meant dealing with multiple currencies, languages, and regulatory regimes.
They recognised that to go global, they needed an ERP capable of multi-subsidiary management and global compliance, which NetSuite provides out-of-the-box. Similarly, Life Cykel’s rapid expansion to over 120 countries (including the US and UK) would be unthinkable without a scalable cloud ERP platform. NetSuite OneWorld enabled Life Cykel to consolidate financials across regions in real time, so that closing the books now takes days instead of up to a month. This kind of capability has become essential for companies managing growth and courting investors – it provides a clear, up-to-date picture of global operations and financial health.
There are also investment trends in technology that influence this shift. Venture capital and private equity in the life sciences and health products space have been encouraging portfolio companies to modernise their systems to drive efficiency. Government initiatives in Australia, such as the Modern Manufacturing Strategy focusing on medical products, similarly encourage investment in advanced systems and processes to enhance competitiveness. All these trends contribute to a business environment where cloud ERP is seen as a prudent investment. The ROI comes from both internal efficiency and the ability to seize new opportunities – whether that’s launching a new product line quickly, handling a surge in demand from a viral wellness trend or integrating an acquired brand.
Cloud ERP as a strategic response
Across all these drivers – regulatory compliance, supply chain resilience, R&D complexity, digital transformation, and growth ambitions – cloud ERP emerges as a common solution.
It provides an integrated, future-ready platform that addresses the pain points and positions companies for the next decade of industry evolution. Oracle NetSuite, in particular, has gained traction among ANZ health and wellness companies as a cloud ERP of choice, due to its breadth of features and proven success in this sector. NetSuite delivers the infrastructure health product businesses need to manage growth without compromising on compliance, traceability or operational control. This balance is critical – companies want to scale up and innovate, but not at the expense of quality or governance.
How cloud ERP supports strategic goals
Unified operations and data
Life-Space Group, after optimising its NetSuite ERP, now runs all core functions on one platform (finance, manufacturing, inventory, sales, and more). This unity has led to better inventory visibility, fewer errors and faster delivery times, directly tackling the inefficiencies that once caused stock outages. Having a single source of truth means the entire team now all work from the same interface, ensuring company-wide visibility and a more unified organisation.
Automation and efficiency gains
Cloud ERP often brings immediate efficiency improvements through automation. For example, Life Cykel’s move from Xero and spreadsheets to NetSuite eliminated countless manual processes. The finance team can now close books in days (not weeks) and generate instant profitability reports by product – tasks that were previously slow or impossible. This automation not only cuts laborious work but frees up skilled staff to focus on strategic initiatives.
Advanced capabilities (WMS, Traceability, AI)
Many cloud ERPs offer extension modules and integration to advanced tools. Life-Space integrated a NetSuite-centric Warehouse Management Solution (RF-SMART) to achieve full traceability from goods receipt to delivery. They are also implementing an anti-counterfeit integration using QR codes to give end consumers transparency into product origin – a forward-looking feature aligning with global anti-fraud trends.
Cloud ERP’s openness to technologies like IoT (for tracking conditions), AI (for predictive analytics), and blockchain (for traceability) means companies can continuously enhance their systems to meet future demands.
Scalability for growth and globalisation
A crucial advantage of cloud ERP is the ability to scale infrastructure on demand and easily add new entities or markets. When Life-Space expanded into China and other international markets, NetSuite was able to support multi-currency transactions, local compliance (e.g. China’s VAT/tax), and bilingual records out-of-the-box. Similarly, Life Cykel’s preparation to enter big-box US retail was facilitated by NetSuite’s robust inventory and quality controls, which meet the stringent standards of major retailers. This scalability reassures both management and investors that the company’s core systems won’t be a bottleneck to expansion.
Is it time for cloud ERP?
Regulatory, operational, and market forces are demanding a level of agility and control that legacy systems cannot provide. Cloud ERP solutions, exemplified by NetSuite, have become the must-have of a strategic, future-facing response. They enable companies to y navigate the current challenges – ensuring compliance, overcoming supply chain hurdles, and accelerating R&D – while proactively innovating and growing. As the industry continues to evolve with trends like personalised wellness, biotechnology advancements, and ever-tighter regulations, having a cloud ERP foundation positions ANZ businesses to adapt quickly and grow faster.
Curious about what ERP could do for you?
Talk to the team at Annexa – we’ll walk you through the options and help you find the right fit.