In today’s business environment, nobody wants to have to replace their existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system — but as everyone tries to grow, they often need to change. Companies, in every industry across the business landscape, need to move fast or they risk being overtaken by their competition.
According to Ranga Bodla, Industry Lead, Wholesale Distribution, NetSuite, speaking at a recent meeting of FEI’s Committee on Finance & IT (CFIT) hosted by software provider Trintech in Grapevine, Texas, “Companies need to think and operate like startups and their opportunities are global. They have to be responsive and nimble or they run the risk of being quickly disrupted. Data is a huge weapon and it’s becoming more important every day with emerging trends like the internet of things. In today’s world, every company is — and needs to be thinking like — a cloud company.”
However, many companies today still run their business in silos using fragmented business systems that can be very inefficient. In fact, a Mint Jutras Enterprise Application study showed 27 percent of companies were most likely to leave existing systems in place, but supplement with primarily cloud solutions, while 23 percent said they were operating predominantly from the cloud today.
With many cloud solutions, customization can be viewed negatively. However, customization does not have to be dirty word. NetSuite has used a two-tier approach to cloud updates. Bodla states that by using automatic upgrades and a patented “phased release” process, 100 percent of their customers are on the same release.
Not all clouds are created equal, though. The fake cloud, aka “private cloud” or “hosted cloud,” is single-tenant, version-locked, inflexible, and not truly scalable. However, the real cloud is multi-tenant, version-less, designed for internet, flexible, and scalable.
In fact, according to Gartner, “Enterprises run the risk of getting nasty shocks when the thing they thought they were buying turns out to be something altogether different. Hosting and application management are not synonymous with SaaS.”
Security remains a major concern among companies and cloud systems can often be seen as platforms meant more for smaller companies. However, the Enterprise Application study found more than half of all companies would consider...