The Benefits of Cloud ERP for Businesses

What are the Benefits of Cloud ERP Solutions?

Clearly, significant differences exist between on-premises and cloud ERP systems, and these differences point to cloud ERP for business advantages. These advantages include:

• Global Access and Enterprise-Level Security: As noted, a cloud ERP solution provides businesses with unparalleled, 24/7 access to their data. Employees working from home, in the office, on the road, or in varying locations can input and extract data in real time using any connected mobile device. The information they see is the same information their co-workers see, which encourages and enhances company-wide communication and collaboration. And employees—regardless of where they are or when they access the system—enjoy enterprise-level data security provided by the cloud ERP vendor and the third-party hosting platform (e.g., Amazon Web Services (AWS)) the vendor uses. Constant monitoring, repeated testing, and automatic updates by the vendor and the hosting platform counteract the onslaught of cyberattacks businesses deal with every day.

• Real-Time Insights and Analytics: Having access to real-time and secure data is an important example of the benefits of cloud ERP solutions. But cloud ERP solutions can take it a step further by leveraging sophisticated business intelligence tools, such as Microsoft Power BI, as a way to analyze a business’ raw data and combine it with external data sources in order to spot trends, identify inefficiencies, and grow the business.

• Bringing Down the Cost of Operation: Many SMBs underestimate the cost of an on-premises ERP solution. Investing in and installing hardware on private, company-owned servers is expensive, and it’s likely the installation will require upgrading the SMB’s current infrastructure, causing costs to skyrocket. And if the SMB’s IT department does not have the expertise required for installing, implementing, and maintaining the on-premises solution, then add hiring and training new IT staff members to the price. With a cloud ERP solution, the software and hardware requirements are managed solely by the ERP vendor and the cost is covered by the subscription fee, bringing down the cost of operation substantially.

• Built-In Scalability: Scalability, according to the Gartner Glossary, “is the measure of a system’s ability to increase or decrease in performance and cost in response to changes in application and system processing demands.” It goes on to note that “demands” encompass an increase or decrease in the number of users and queries as well as how an operating system “performs on different classes of hardware.” Unfortunately, on-premises systems are fairly static, meaning they require users to purchase additional equipment—which will require ongoing maintenance—to handle their continually changing needs. This is not the case with cloud ERP for business. A cloud ERP solution allows SMBs to easily and quickly scale up or down without purchasing/installing new hardware and without new software licenses.