Cloud ERP: Will 2011 Be the Rise of Innovation in This Space? Experts Say Yes!

Is cloud ERP solutions the future of ERP? Recent surveys show that business is trending towards two tier cloud ERP solutions, a trend which is expected to continue into 2012. In these surveys, an astounding 48% of businesses surveyed reported that they are considering adopting a 2 Tier cloud ERP approach in the future.

Why 2 Tier ERP?

If you are a businesses engaged in global competition you know that solutions need to be fast, flexible and feasibly priced. When a single ERP is in use across a wide ranging enterprise, speed is lost. In addition to the time required to implement single instance ERP across a broad spectrum of specific functionalities, there is simply never an opportunity for maintenance or the necessary upgrades. Running your business on single instance ERP is cumbersome. Loss of time and productivity make your business less competitive. Inefficiency is one of the factors driving the trend toward a 2 tiered ERP approach.

Lack of flexibility is another driver. Your subsidiary and branch operations require specific functionalities. Single, on-premise ERP solutions require expensive and time-consuming IT attention across a wide spectrum of processes and geography to maintain those functionalities. Two tier solutions free your disparate locations to utilize ERP that is more industry-specific.

Especially in cases where there are subsidiaries in foreign locations the flexibility to employ customizable ERP can be key. In such cases there often are specific tax codes and site specific regulations to which your business must adhere.Pricing is another factor in the move toward two tier solutions utilizing cloud ERP.

Why Cloud ERP?

At present most ERP systems in use are on-premise but the high costs associated with such solutions combined with equally high costs for necessary upgrades is steering the trend towards cloud ERP solutions. More and more businesses are attracted to a blend of on-premise and on-demand ERP.

Often the on-premise legacy ERP solution remains in use at the head office while cloud ERP is utilized in branch locations especially when there are subsidiaries in foreign countries. In other instances companies have chosen to use one ERP instance for the corporate and finance processes and another, perhaps cloud ERP, is chosen for more specific branch processes such as manufacturing.

Cloud ERP offers several attractive features. First among which is its ability to be deployed quickly. A second key feature that is moving businesses toward cloud ERP is quick access to innovation. Your business is always changing and adapting to new business realities and it is important that the technology behind your company keep pace with you. Cloud ERP offers businesses the capability to access the latest upgrades quickly and at lower cost than traditional on-premise ERP solutions.

The third feature which is leading more and more businesses to adopt a 2 tier solution which encompasses cloud ERP is pricing. You, the business owner are well aware of the expense involved with ERP. Those costs can be significantly reduced when you deploy cloud ERP as your second tier solution because cloud ERP offers subscription pricing.

Cloud ERP Meets Demands