How the cloud is changing on-premise ERP business

No one can deny it, the cloud computing is the present and future for everything around us, no business is an exception. When we talk about on-premise business management software a.k.a. Enterprise Resource Planning solutions are they really dead man walking as many industrial experts think?. This is my analysis on this matter with the experience I have in the Enterprise Resource Planning software market. Welp, there is an honorable mention; big thanks to Peter Kowalke, journalist and tech enthusiast working with Ziff Davis for shooting the following questions to me and considering my thoughts in his article published in toolbox.com. Also thanks, ePROMIS Solutions, a Houston-based ERP software provider to which I am associated.

What are your top four tips for SMEs deploying ERP?

• Identify your business requirements, list them clearly, then start searching ERP vendors. 
• Mobility and BYOD trends increase across industries, and you should not forget your mobile users.
• Think before you ask for customizing ERP. Incorporating best practices into your current processes can help your business win globally. 
• ERP implementation is a key business re-engineering program. Appoint the best internal team to support ERP implementation. 

What are four keys for better ERP analytics that rarely are put into practice?

• Installing a culture of data backed decision-making in business; it’s a significant mindset change.
• Enabling Real-time data processing. (Batch processing may harm integrity and swiftness of data)
• Getting Built-in BI tools. (Many vendors sell BI as a separate product, while ePROMIS ERP is equipped with Built-in BI, this will eliminate general interfacing hassles such as data loss, data mapping, data integrity concerns, batch-processing etc.)
• Choosing the right matrix to analyze. Many organizations use KPIs just to make their company look good, but selecting KPIs with value is of greater importance, i.e. know what you want to know. 

How is the cloud changing ERP on-premise?

Interestingly, cloud computing is already everywhere, from accessing emails, storing pictures and files in OneDrive, watching videos in YouTube, posting on Facebook, we don’t realize how much of our time we spend in the cloud.  The cloud is going to reinvent ERP and many organizations already started considering the cloud ERP as a vital stage of their digital transformation. It can take another 10 years from now for a 100% on-premise to Cloud ERP transition, and for the meantime, we have hybrid ERP, which is a mix of on-premise and the cloud technologies.


What are the three biggest ways the cloud has improved on-premise ERP?

• Access ERP from anywhere is one of the many great facilities cloud technology offers. This made on-premise ERP solutions find work around mobility options by integrating web technologies.
• The concept of enterprise mobility helped ERP systems innovate and come up with mobile and web solutions.
• On-premise ERP system vendors are now keen considering possible technology updates while developing products. This will avoid compatibility issues in the future.

What's the short and long-term future for on-premise ERP?

• Short-term future: Anytime within the coming 5 years. 
• Long-term future: 8 to 12 years from now.  

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