If you’re looking for an ERP system for your company, it is possible that you’re being barraged with options as you try to scavenge for information online or through your consultants.
As you reflect on your choices, one of the most vital decisions you’ll need to make is which deployment option is most suitable for your business and organizational structure.
Does it make more sense to have the solution installed on-premise or should it be cloud-based? How does SaaS differ from Cloud? Which deployment option is better?
Cloud-Based vs On-Premise vs SaaS
On-premise ERP system or traditional ERP implementation as it is often called basically means that the ERP solution is locally installed on the customer’s server and the hardware is maintained by the IT Staff.
Upgrades, customizations, and maintenance all fall within the responsibility of your IT team or may be outsourced to the ERP vendor for an additional fee.
Cloud ERP system is installed and managed centrally via the Internet. The software and the servers are not found locally in the customer´s facilities as they can be hosted by the vendor, a third party or the company itself if it wants to.
The end customer/ company using it gets to choose how much control they want over the solution and its technological environment. That said, there is no need for server infrastructure or added responsibility to the IT team.
Software as a Service or SaaS ERP System is a subset of the cloud deployment model. With this type of set-up, the software and servers are all hosted by the ERP vendor as part of the paid service. There usually is a predictable and recurring monthly subscription fee per user.
Which among the three is better?
The answer to this question is very subjective. While this may sound rather diplomatic, it is true.
There are pros and cons to each deployment option which are worth pondering over as they are all valid.
On-premise ERP system deployment requires server infrastructure and the full commitment of your IT department which could mean added responsibility on your overworked IT plus an added infrastructure expenditure. However, an on-premise ERP system will also have more powerful and flexible capabilities than cloud. It is also more secure as it is within your full control and servers are not located elsewhere. For technical problems, you always have your local IT support that you can lean on.
Cloud or SaaS on the other hand offers a cost and business advantage in the sense that you don´t need to shell out huge amounts of money to start with. Both SaaS and Cloud increases computing capabilities without having to purchase new infrastructure for it. You also do not need to install a lot of software applications on your local computers.
Lastly, there is also the time element which is worth looking at. In general, it takes a bit longer to deploy on-premise than it does with cloud or SaaS but everything of course depends on several factors – the skills of your chosen consultants deploying, the help the implementors get from your organization, and the expectations or requirements you set.
It is worth mentioning that it is wrong to assume that just because you are deploying cloud or SaaS it would automatically mean it can be deployed very quickly as it still largely depends on the complexity of your business processes and a certain level of configuration is still required.
The implementation time can still drag on for several months at a time but as mentioned earlier, in general, deploying via cloud is faster.
Budgeting and Reporting Supplement to your Chosen ERP System
Regardless of the deployment option you choose for your ERP system, one thing is certain – an ERP system never really is enough when it comes to budgeting and reporting.
Sure it has capabilities enough to do very basic financial tasks but the abilities of an ERP system to do very specific and highly analytical accounting tasks such as those needed for financial reporting and budgeting usually fall short.
Performance Canvas Financials or pcFinancials is a supplemental tool to any ERP system to improve your organization´s financial reporting, budgeting, forecasting, and consolidation capabilities.
The beauty of this tool is that it is system agnostic which means it can work with basically any ERP system regardless of how it is deployed which means it leverages your existing technological investment.
pcFinancials which is a complete and unified platform for reporting and analysis, budgeting and planning, forecasting, financial consolidation, KPI management, and dashboarding can be deployed on-premise, cloud or SaaS.
To learn more about this budgeting and reporting solution that can complement your chosen ERP system, visit www.performancecanvas.com or email info@dspanel.com.
DSPanel offers cutting edge technology platform for business analytics, planning, and visualization. DSPanel designs, builds, and operates with the end users in mind. Performance Canvas was created by DSPanel to answer the unarticulated needs of the market not addressed by previous available solutions. With Performance Canvas, information is transformed into valuable business insights for the business executives to utilize in their decision-making process. DSPanel currently has over 2500 organizations deploying their solutions.
