Proponents of Cloud ERP will recite a long list of benefits, but are they real?
Cost Savings
A savvy vendor is going to price its Cloud ERP to maximize revenue—that means they will price it as high as they can while keeping the Cloud option attractive. Over the long run, the licensing fees for a Cloud solution will probably cost roughly the same as an on-premise solution. The difference then is not so much licensing cost, but the cash layout. Selecting a Cloud ERP solution will definitely change the cash flow of your ERP project, allowing you to spread your licensing costs over your years of usage and likely reducing the cost of funding over the lifetime of the project.
Further, you will save on hardware costs. You won’t need to dish out the cost of servers and secure networks. You won’t need an additional network specialist in your IT department. You won’t need to worry about maintenance on that equipment and you won’t need to scale up your hardware when your usage increases over the years.
Speaking of IT, here is another area of significant cost savings. You won’t need an IT person to maintain the software (what software?). Enhancements and upgrades are handled by the vendor host. However, customizations may be developed and maintained by your in-house group. If your implementation is highly customized, you may want to provide your own support and training, however, keep in mind that you will almost never be starting from scratch—host-provided materials can usually be modified to address your support and training needs.
So yes, there are very real cost savings. But there is more…a lot more.
Operational Advantages
Cloud ERPs like Acumatica are easy to set up and implement, making your time to value shorter and increasing your ROI. Your staff is actually using the solution soon after deciding which ERP to go with, while their interest and energy is still high.
Cloud ERP gives you anywhere access and provides consistency for remote collaboration. It gives you real-time visibility into the data and can, therefore, reduce response times and operational cycle times. These benefits of Cloud ERP can make your company actually operate more efficiently and effectively resulting in better decisions, faster delivery of products, and improved profit margins.*
Cloud ERP solutions are also flexible and provide for scability and full customization. New capabilities are continuously added by the vendor host, improving your user experience and increasing your competitiveness. And in many cases, security has been found to be better than security with on-premise software.
And very important in today’s BYOD (bring your own device) world, Cloud ERP can provide cross-platform compatibility. A fully web-based Cloud ERP like Acumatica can be accessed by any device that can access the Internet so your staff can give approvals via their smart phones or tablets. So you won’t experience stalls while your staff is on the road.
Yes, the Benefits Are Real
So now you have it–Cloud ERP is not just a fad, not just IT buzz, and not just pie in the sky. Cloud ERP provides significant cost savings and operational benefits. Cloud ERP gives you a competitive edge with anywhere, anytime, any device access to real-time data, reducing the time to better decisions and reducing operations cycles.
For more information about how an enterprise resource management system can help your business call NexVue (now Net at Work) at 203.327.0800 or email us at info@nexvue.com.