Cloud ERP: The Silver Lining of Enterprise Software or Just a Foggy Mess?
Cloud ERP is clearly the talk of the ERP software industry. The marketing engine supporting cloud options such as software as a service ( SaaS) and hosted ERP systems is very strong, even reaching into the consumer-facing side of things with Microsoft’s push into the cloud with Windows-based products. Cloud is becoming in the enterprise software space: 17-percent of organizations are reportedly using SaaS-based solutions, up from 6-percent the previous year. In addition, another 24-percent are using the cloud to host their traditional, single-tenant ERP systems, while just over half of organizations are opting for traditional systems that are hosted on site. So cloud ERP must surely be the wave of the future, right? Not necessarily. Just as the cloud can be very practical for a consumer that doesn’t want to deal with hosting their music or pictures on their laptop, smaller businesses often find that the cloud is an ideal solution because it minimizes the need for c...