FINAL WORD
I
n fact, a July 2016 Gartner report
predicts that the public cloud
services market in the Middle East
and North Africa (MENA) region will
grow by 18.3% in 2016 to $879.3
million. More specifically, the cloud
application services (SaaS) market is
forecasted to grow by a staggering
207% from $166.1 million in 2015 to
$509.8 million in 2020.
So what are the benefits of cloud based
ERP solutions? Below are eight reasons
why moving your ERP system to the
cloud will benefit your business and
support business growth.
1
Freedom of choice
Put quite simply, not all cloud ERP
systems are created equal. Specifically,
very few ERP vendors respect your
right to choose the deployment model
that is most appropriate for you, and
revise that decision down the road as
your business grows or technical needs
change. Your right to transition between
on-premises, multi-tenant, and single
tenant is an important one. It recognises
that the “best” deployment model for
you today might not be the best model
in a few years, or even a few months.
By providing the choice of Multi-Tenant
(with its compelling economics and
seamless upgrades) or Single Tenant
(allowing more administrative control
and administrative ownership), you can
choose the model that works best for you.
2
Compelling cloud
economics
Despite the cloud having proven its
value beyond just good financial sense,
there is no doubt that for companies
of all sizes the economics of cloud
deployment are undeniably compelling,
moving from capital to operational
expenditure. Some of the more hidden
economic benefits of the cloud include:
• Not being as capital intensive as an
on-premises deployment because of
the subscription-based pricing model.
• Better and more instant scalability,
allowing clients to add (and
sometimes remove) users to their
system on demand and saving them
from having to invest in hardware
and software at the “high water
mark”.
• The direct and indirect costs of
your infrastructure, from server
to database systems to the actual
hardware and replacement cycle cost.
• The hidden costs of maintaining the
servers yourself.
• The benefit of the reduced
deployment times (and
corresponding improved ROI) that are
typical for cloud deployments, as the
necessary infrastructure is in place
already.
3
Better IT resource
utilisation
At the end of the day, most IT
departments are stretched pretty thin,
and find themselves spending too much
time on low-value (but admittedly
critical) activities such as verifying
backups, applying security updates,
and upgrading the infrastructure upon
which your critical systems run. There
is tremendous business benefit to
assigning those tasks back to your ERP
AT THE END OF THE DAY, MOST IT DEPARTMENTS ARE
STRETCHED PRETTY THIN, AND FIND THEMSELVES SPENDING
TOO MUCH TIME ON LOW-VALUE (BUT ADMITTEDLY CRITICAL)
ACTIVITIES SUCH AS VERIFYING BACKUPS, APPLYING SECURITY
UPDATES, AND UPGRADING THE INFRASTRUCTURE UPON
WHICH YOUR CRITICAL SYSTEMS RUN
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