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The Compelling Value Proposition of the Cloud Touches Every Corner of ERP

There are few departments, functions or applications within the enterprise that haven’t been affected by a move to cloud-based solutions one way or another, though we likely still associate the cloud more with sales and call-center functions. Consulting firm Eval-Source recently updated its enterprise resource planning (ERP) Cloud and SaaS (News - Alert) Buyer’s Guide to address changes in that area. For starters, the new guide contains about twice as many vendors as the 2011 version, a testament to how the cloud has changed the ERP market. It includes more vendor profiles, updated research on trends and case studies that address best practices.

In addition to an expansion on the number of vendors, the report outlines a number of trends affecting the cloud and SaaS ERP market, chief among them social networking and mobility, according to ITBusiness.ca.

Social has touched nearly everyone on earth with a computer or smartphone, but it’s less well understood in a business setting. In a B-to-B environment, social media is about marketing and networking, and collaborating with partners, suppliers or distributors, according to the report, which notes that “ERP suppliers don’t necessarily have to integrate social collaboration elements right out of the box; systems can easily be adapted and upgraded. And the ability for end users to log in remotely to the system wasn’t possible two years ago for a lot of these implementations.”

Within ERP, of course, there are many sub-disciplines, including manufacturing, finance and accounting, sales and service, customer relationship management (CRM) and more. While social media may be less likely to touch on solutions in manufacturing than CRM, for instance, there is truly no corner of ERP that has not been affected.

Cloud-based CRM solutions were some of the earliest applications enterprises saw in the cloud, of course, from the front-line vendors. Today, the more agile contact centers are using not only cloud-based CRM solutions, but cloud-based IP call center solutions which can easily be integrated to provide more intelligence to allow for better management of the customer relationship.

The report also notes that cloud solutions can give ERP projects more agility, not to mention faster rollout, notes ITBusiness.ca’s Dave Webb. The online environment makes ERP systems more agile. Whereas in an on-premise system, updates and changes have to be rolled out across the organization, SaaS and cloud vendors can change the system overnight.

Companies still determining the potential benefits of a move to cloud-based ERP systems should consider this agility as a mark in favor of a migration, even if it’s hard to quantify in a cost-benefit analysis. According to CA’s Ravi Rajagopal, it’s one of the many “intangibles,” or less clear-cut benefits, which comes with a move to the cloud. It’s usually less about the processes and more about the outcomes, one of which is the ability to become a more data-driven organization, says Rajagopal.

Ultimately, companies that feel driven by their ERP and contact center solutions (rather than vice versa) can use the cloud to aggregate data and make it work for them. This, in the end, is one of the best value propositions of the cloud.


Edited by Rory J. Thompson