Kicking the Cloud ERP Tires? Here’s What You Need to Know.

You are probably seeing a lot of “we’re in the Cloud and we’re cool so use us” advertising and wondering how to distinguish these providers from the rest.  Sure, there are the wanna-bees looking to ride the cloud wave with their flashy ads and off-site data centers.  Unfortunately, there are some that lack key benefits that set the true cloud providers apart from the rest-of-the-pack.  Here’s what you need to know when consider the cloud for your ERP platform and the areas where my clients value the most but sometimes fail to recognize during the evaluation process.

1. True Multi-Tenancy is probably the biggest item that people should be focused on.  It allows the applications to be upgraded very easily and means that all the customers of the software are on the same version of the software at all times.  If your ERP solution is configured correctly, it means you can make the process of customizing the clients environment very easy to manage and upgrade.  Without multi-tenancy, you are losing your ability to drive innovation and leverage best practices.
2. Regularly Delivered Updates allows organizations the access the latest and greatest of what the software has released.  These releases will keep you up-to-date with new functionality to help streamline business process.
3. Business Driven Configurability lets you configure the ERP solution to meet business needs.   Ensure that the ERP software can meet 90% of your needs from a business perspective.
4. Faster Deployment mean quick, relatively painless and more successful than your typical on-premise project. A lot of this comes from the multi-tenant environment that allows for great flexibility on configuration.
5. Control with how you access your data.  Yes, it may reside on their servers but it belongs to you.  Check that you can access your data on a regular basis and create a plan on how you will utilize the data should you want to access it outside of the cloud environment.

There are many cloud ERP platforms to consider.  Be sure to do your due dilligence and compare how each of them preform in the areas.  If you are considering an upgrade, contact our professional for help in navigating these solutions.  As a partner to many well-known ERP solution, we will take an objective view of your needs and discuss how these systems can increase productivity and profitability.  To learn more, contact us at erp@mcgladrey.com or by phone at 855.437.7202.

By: Chris Goguen – Massachusetts NetSuite Solution Provider

Chris Goguen