There are many, many different types of ERP providers out there who claim in their marketing materials to offer "genuine, state-of-the-art cloud-based solutions." Of course, this demands the question—what, if anything, does that actually mean?
Is "the cloud" really something that a business like yours should be paying attention to, or is that only for the largest enterprises out there? Likewise, is everyone telling the truth? Does "the cloud" have a rigid definition, or is it one of those terms that everyone just throws around to the point where it doesn't actually matter?
The truth is, there IS a significant difference between a cloud-based ERP system and the on-premises solutions of yesteryear. Not only that, but this type of cloud ERP deployment can bring with it a large number of benefits to an organization like yours regardless of its size, all of which are more than worth exploring.
The Power of the Cloud: Breaking Things Down
At its core, cloud computing is a situation where all of your IT assets are delivered in an on-demand fashion over the Internet, as opposed to being physically set up in your office or other place of business. This can include not only servers and storage but also components like databases, networking equipment, software, and more.
In a general sense, cloud computing brings with it a host of opportunities to any business—chief among them being dramatically reduced IT costs. Instead of purchasing expensive hardware and software that you yourself then need to pay to maintain, you exchange everything for guaranteed access to all of the resources you need by way of a fixed, predictable monthly fee.
Included in that fee is the cost of all system upgrades, including any new hardware and software you need. Plus, you no longer need to pay for highly experienced IT professionals to maintain everything, and you'll likely reduce your energy consumption as well as nothing is hosted on-premises anymore.
This in turn also creates an incredible sense of scalability, allowing you to ramp up (or down) your operations as needed. Provisioning resources to add new users to account for seasonal fluctuations is literally as simple as making a phone call to your provider. Truly, it doesn't get much more straightforward than that.
So What, Then, is a Cloud ERP?
A cloud ERP like NetSuite, by association, is in an ideal position to allow your business to get more out of not only financial management, ordering, and fulfillment, but also inventory management, procurement, and even far-reaching business analytics, too.
Because NetSuite ERP exists entirely in the cloud, it allows you to access all of the critical intelligence and data you need to run your business from any computer or device on the planet with an active Internet connection. This means that you can get real-time information to make better and more informed decisions from anywhere, at any time.
But more than that, NetSuite ERP also allows you to better manage the finances of your business by setting up approval workflows, as an example. Your purchasing process can also be significantly streamlined thanks to automation, allowing you to let the system handle so many of those time-consuming, menial tasks so you can focus on the jobs that actually require your experience.
Thanks to the fact that NetSuite ERP can act as a single repository for all data and business intelligence, it also offers a number of enormous opportunities with regards to how your business functions on a day-to-day level. You can improve the accuracy of your procure-to-pay process, for example, by linking transactions together in a way that makes the most sense to you. This also helps provide approval, and create matching workflows for the different parts of your business, too.
Overall, NetSuite ERP is a solution designed to run all of your key business processes in the cloud—meaning that you can tackle inventory, supply chain, and order management in a more efficient and forward-thinking manner than ever before. So not only do you immediately get to enjoy benefits that simply don't exist with a fully on-premise solution, you also get more than what other solutions claiming to be a full-service cloud ERP provider can hope to match.
Regardless of the business you're operating, that is an incredibly exciting position to be in.
The Cloud-Based Future is Here. Embrace It
At ManoByte, we've made it a priority to help businesses like yours get the most out of their IT for many years, and recently, embracing cloud-based options like NetSuite ERP is a big part of how we do it. In a best case scenario, the cloud should not only empower communication and collaboration across your enterprise, but it should allow your people to finally be as productive as possible, in the ways that they're comfortable with, with as few potential limitations as possible.
In no uncertain terms, the cloud has changed the way we do business—both for the better and for all time. We truly couldn't be more excited for that fact, and are eager for the opportunity to show you exactly what the right cloud ERP option can do for you.
So if you'd like to find out even more information about the advantages that only a cloud ERP can bring to the table, or if you'd just like to go into the specifics of your own IT needs with someone in a bit more detail, contact ManoByte today.
