While last time the focus was on detailing the benefits of cloud computing, and how they have addressed the needs of businesses in the SME space, this week’s focus is on discussing cloud technology as a software deployment option. Although the on-premise model still represents the majority of the deployments for enterprise resources planning (ERP) software, more and more, small to midsized businesses are looking to cloud deployment to achieve the business agility required to support new business processes. Cloud computing technology can be broken down into two different deployment options outlined below:
In this option of cloud computing, the software is not licensed or owned by the company; instead it is provided as a service and is paid on a subscription basis to circumvent the capital investment that a small start-up company may not have the resources to invest in early on during their operation. In this instance, the SME benefits from the cloud in that they have added mobility gained from being able to access their ERP system from any internet connection without the need to log into a specific terminal. This is beneficial to a small business whose growth is out pacing their office or factories since they have the added agility of not having to transport hardware, software from one location to another. As a business requires the support of additional processes, they do not require waiting until the process is installed locally and can instead use the process right away since it is made available by the implementation partner. Vision33’s also supports on-demand deployment of ERP software with SAP Business One On-Demand.
Alternatively, growing companies with a hosted solution are able to take advantage of business agility since they do not have to install the software solution on-premise. This deployment method may be in a separate instance on a separate piece of hardware or in a virtual instance where the application is housed on hardware shared by multiple companies. With this deployment option, business can better future proof their company by taking advantage of the cost structure associated with a cloud-based cost structure that results in a cost structure that reflects the ability of cloud deployment to add incremental functionality to a company’s ERP solution, enabling responsiveness amongst market changes and new compeititon. Vision33 further supports the full cloud software solution by way of the Business ByDesign software.
Tune in again next week for a breakdown of some of the other business trends outlined for 2013.