Business software can be too expensive and too difficult to manage for some growing companies, but according to One Channel, the cloud now offers cost savings, flexibility, scalability, security and speed that growing companies will find very appealing.

Cloud ERP software can be a great choice for dynamic and fast-growing companies, it connects finance, accounting and operational data. It can save business owners a lot of money, companies that have moved from on-premise to cloud ERP have shown huge saving.

Research firm Forrester predicts that more than 50% of global enterprises will rely on at least one public cloud platform to drive digital transformation and delight customers. It predicts the total global public cloud market will be US$178B in 2018, up from US$146B in 2017, and will continue to grow at a 22 percent compound annual growth rate.

Businesses no longer have to fund or manage their own data centres. Instead, they can merely pay a monthly subscription to a Cloud ERP provider for the service. Another advantage is that when the company spreads the monthly or yearly payments out and treats it as a recurring, fully tax-deductible expense (OPEX instead of CAPEX).

One Channel CEO Bernard Ford says Cloud ERP is also more flexible because it can be accessed from anywhere with any Internet-enabled device. "That means business owners have the ability to make good business decisions no matter where they are, be it from a laptop, tablet or mobile phone."

One can also share data across locations and departments and because everyone in the company is interacting with centralised data through a common interface, the likelihood of interpreting the data differently between functions is reduced and opportunity for collaboration is increased.

"More importantly, data in the cloud is easier to use with BI tools, providing business leaders the flexibility to choose which reports and dashboards work best for them," he adds.

It's also easier to scale as the company grows. Scaling is a complicated science, businesses that scale too slowly will fail to keep up with their customers and competition. However, if they scale too quickly, they might over-spend and waste resources.

The cloud solves this problem because Cloud ERP offers a scalable platform, ideal for start-ups and fast-growing businesses alike. Businesses can scale their business solution requirements to accommodate an unlimited number of users, without the hassle of maintaining or replacing on-premises hardware and software.

Cloud ERP is fast because data centres are hosted and maintained by the best hosting environments like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. Their sole purpose is to make data accessible as easily, as fast and as secure as possible.

According to Forrester, AWS, Google and Microsoft will capture 76% of all cloud platform revenue in 2018, expanding to 80% percent by 2020. It predicts SaaS vendors will compete more at the platform level, running portions of their services on Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) or Oracle Cloud in 2018.

Given the increased demands for application customization, combined with the convergence of digital technologies such as IoT and AI, Forrester predicts that SaaS vendors will de-prioritise their platform efforts to attain global scale and select from AWS, Azure, GCP, or Oracle Cloud.

"These data centres ensure geographic diversity and back-up and store one's data in multiple places to make sure nothing gets lost," he concludes.

In its ‘Cloud Computing Accelerates Enterprise Transformation Everywhere' report, Forrester says new private cloud options and even more public cloud and SaaS innovations will power enterprise transformation in 2018.

For more information contact One Channel at info@onechannel.co.za or visit www.onechannel.cloud