In my past articles, I’ve examined various areas of cloud migration, from the benefits and risks to the first stages of adoption. Now that we’ve established a solid understanding of the benefits of the cloud, it’s important to step back to acknowledge the role that the cloud has played within ERP deployments by exploring how the cloud has become a viable choice over on-premise platforms.
There’s no denying that on premise platforms still have a very large mindshare and presence within the ERP space and supply chain segments. According to results from our recent customer technology survey, less than seven percent of our customers are fully deployed to the cloud, proving that technology in the ERP and supply chain world does indeed progress at a slower pace. On the other hand, more that 40 percent of respondents said they have already moved some of their business applications to the cloud, and 30 percent have begun testing or exploring cloud options, which supports the idea that cloud technology has taken root and will inevitably become an industry standard.
Let’s take a look at why the cloud has become an increasingly appealing option for the supply chain, beginning with the benefits unique to cloud platforms.
Simplified Application Integration
One of the benefits of moving your business to the cloud is the ability to add and update business applications with nominal effort and scalability. With on-premise solutions, adjusting and manually updating data center infrastructure is no easy task. Automatic updates in the cloud and cloud architecture virtualization allow IT departments to reallocate their time towards more value added tasks.
Analytics
ERP in the cloud is a key tool for gathering and analyzing data. With integrated business intelligence and analytics it allows businesses to identify opportunities for growth. With this analytic data, companies are able to adjust cloud capacity and spend based on seasonality, and trends that can be identified through added visibility thanks to data analytics, which increases ROI.
Reliability
Availability and Disaster Recovery are two of the more desirable features of the cloud. Because of cloud architecture’s redundancy and security capabilities, companies can rest easy knowing that their sensitive data and information is secure and available. Compliance adherence is an added benefit of the 24/7 monitoring service that the cloud provides. With security concerns on the rise, protecting customer information in the cloud has increasingly become an industry expectation.
Conclusion
While on-premise platforms are still a viable business solution for some situations, businesses must acknowledge the growing presence of the cloud if they are to meet customer expectations and remain technologically relevant. There is no doubt that the cloud is here to stay. It’s not necessary for companies to make the migration all at once; in fact, initially moving one component to the cloud is a great way to get accustomed and test the waters and then transition to a hybrid or a full cloud deployment. Transitioning and adapting your business isn’t always a seamless process, however working with knowledgeable providers that offer deployment planning support is a great way to start your journey to the cloud.