"The effect of the cloud": ERP-systems go into the lead
/ photo Jaro Larnos CC
In our blog on Habré, we share with you news from the world of IaaS, as well as talk about new technologies and trends. Today we would like to talk about enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, or rather, about their cloud implementations. Note what trends are outlined in the field of ERP-systems, and how cloud resource planning systems differ from their “colleagues in the field”.
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According to the Gartner report , cloud alternatives to local ERP systems will seriously strengthen their positions, and by 2018 at least 30% of the companies involved in the provision of services will transfer most of their ERP applications to the cloud.
ERP solutions deployed “on the ground” are implemented according to the licensing model, when software is acquired and uploaded to the company's servers. In this case, the organization independently monitors its infrastructure and platforms: it is responsible for the performance of the equipment, disaster recovery, and pays money for the space occupied by the machines.
The cloud solution implies that the services used are running on servers located on the supplier’s side, and this frees the company from the extra “headache” with maintenance.
Why the cloud?
Local enterprise resource planning systems require a large initial cash infusion to purchase equipment and deploy IT infrastructure. Moreover, such solutions continue to “pull out” the means in the process of operation: the money goes to managing and maintaining the hardware and software parts.
And if the company does not have an experienced IT department, then management will have to allocate a budget for staff training so that employees can perform their functions: maintain server racks and halls, upgrade equipment and software.
For cloud ERP, the initial investment is usually much less, because in this case you do not have to buy your equipment - you just need to set up the software and start working with it through the Internet. Maintenance of IT infrastructure falls entirely on the shoulders of the supplier - he monitors the functioning of the systems and is responsible for the safety of your data. This approach allows you to free up the resources of the company and direct them to the development and growth of business.
It is worth noting that over time, money savings only increase and become more noticeable. According to the study, for companies with a staff of 100 people, the total cost of ownership (TCO) of cloud-based ERP-systems for 4 years is 50% lower than the cost of ownership of local ERP-solutions.
Enterprise resource planning systems deployed by the company on its own equipment have great potential for customization, however, these settings are closely associated with the current implementation, so they have to be restored when the system is updated. This feature is one of the main reasons why companies avoid updating local ERP systems and use irrelevant technologies. According to the study , two out of three medium-sized businesses use outdated versions of ERP-applications.
The difficulties with updating cloud ERP solutions are spared: they are regularly updated by the supplier, so you can be sure that you are using the latest version of the application. In this case, all settings automatically migrate. However, clouds accelerate not only the process of customization of enterprise resource planning systems, but their deployment. The deployment of cloud ERP solutions takes from 3 to 6 months, while it takes about a year to launch a local ERP.
Also, cloud ERP-solutions provide higher performance compared to the “on-demand”. Cloud service providers are developing their IT infrastructure in such a way as to maximize network performance and high application availability. Another plus of the cloud is the ability to adjust the load according to the needs of the business: the amount of computing resources easily increases and so easily decreases.
As for data integrity, then here cloud technologies surpass local solutions. IaaS providers are able to provide enterprise-level security that meets industry standards, such as PCI DSS and SAS 70.
All of the above confirms the results of a study conducted by Accenture, Oracle and FDMagazine among CFOs of 80 Belgian companies. 38% of CFOs noted low ownership as a key factor in switching to cloud ERP systems, and 11% low start-up capital costs.
Who uses cloud ERP solutions
The approach in which services are transferred to the cloud is of interest to companies that are already using the cloud and who want to improve services with the help of additional functionality, as well as to “young” startups who cannot afford to buy expensive equipment.
“ERP class systems no longer mean multi-year implementations and complex infrastructure that is very heavy for small companies. - said Yuri Shumakov, CEO of Awara IT Solutions. - The use of cloud infrastructure solutions allows you to start using the ERP-system without serious capital investments, which undoubtedly contributes to the growth of business, reaching a new level. There were simply no such opportunities for growth 5 years ago. ”
As an example of a company working with cloud-based enterprise resource planning systems, one of the leaders of the Russian system integration market can be cited as KORUS Consulting, which uses the IT-GRAD IaaS cloud to solve the problems of its own clients.
Over the past 8 years, KORUS Consulting employees have implemented a large number of IT infrastructure projects in various industries. Last summer, the company supported a new business - a network of metropolitan supermarkets "BOOM". Retailer was not profitable to invest in equipment, because the solution was chosen in the cloud according to the IaaS model.
Now in the cloud “IT-GRAD” there is an ERP-system Microsoft Dynamics AX, a store management system that takes into account the arrival / consumption of goods, a domain controller (Active Directory, AD), application servers, terminal servers and a SQL database.
Almost the entire server IT infrastructure of the client, necessary for the organization of a business, has been moved to the cloud hosting provider. From the point of view of the server architecture, BOOM Market fully outsourced this part.
By integrating IT-GRAD's IaaS solutions, KORUS Consulting provides additional services in the form of SQL administration and operating systems, including ERP system maintenance.
"Responsible for the decision entirely, it is necessary to include work on administration and maintenance in their own area of responsibility," - commented the company representatives.
With the provision of enterprise management services from the cloud, the First BIT Company is also connected , the division of which is engaged in the development of the direction on the basis of 1C product.
“Our mission is to make the service of remote access to 1C databases as simple as the mail in some Gmail,” said Victor Kanaev, head of the cloud computing department of the First BIT company. “Today, anyone can easily register with online e-mail services and exchange letters. We want to make access to 1C as simple and convenient for any company. ”
Projects of the organization are under construction from "typical blocks". Each unit consists of a Windows server with a 1C base and an embedded client part; for loaded projects, the client and the base are additionally divided into different machines. In addition to the 1C infrastructure itself, there are Active Directory, Linux-based routing and other network functions, Windows terminal farm, monitoring systems as a supporting services — you get a scalable enterprise infrastructure in the cloud .
By the way, IT-GRAD also offers the solution “1C: ERP Enterprise Management 2.0” for building integrated information systems for managing multi-profile enterprises taking into account the world's best practices in automation of large and medium-sized businesses.
/ photo by Ken Teegardin CC
Cloud technologies and the growing popularity of outsourcing in the business environment will influence the decisions made by company executives regarding the use of cloud ERP systems. Already, cloud ERP technologies have become one of the fastest growing segments of the IT industry. The market for software related to enterprise resource planning grew by 3.8% from $ 24.4 billion in 2012 to $ 25.4 billion in 2013.
“Recently, companies have preferred cloud-based ERP solutions, since it is much easier to make changes to the functionality of this kind of service than to work with local installations,” says Vijay Ramakrishnan, director of marketing for Intacct.
Indeed, today more and more organizations are moving away from installing enterprise resource planning systems “on the ground” in the direction of cloud-oriented solutions. By transferring local infrastructure to the capacity of an IaaS provider , companies get serious flexibility and mobility, as well as save money.
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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/307484/
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