ERP Consultant Reviews Cloud ERP: 3 Reasons to Make the Move

As ERP consultants, we see more and more evidence that small and medium-sized businesses are  moving  a portion of their ERP (enterprise resource planning) operations online. Cloud ERP is here and chances are you are already handling one portion of your business in the cloud already.  Your Marketing department, for example, is probably handling many of your marketing and communications tasks online. If you are leveraging your website to attract new business, sending out e-newsletters, participating in social media feeds, then part of your business is in the cloud. Today, we take these online tools for granted as an easy and affordable way to get your marketing message out to your audience. Remember the days of spending money on direct mail and yallow page ads? What a difference the internet and the cloud has made! 

This is the essence of doing business in the cloud: making business processes easy and affordable.  This is exactly why more and more small to medium-sized businesses are moving to cloud-based solutions. These days full-featured Cloud ERP systems are an affordable option to replace outdated manual processes or legacy software that may be costing your business more if you don’t make the move.

Now that the cloud computing industry and Cloud ERP solutions are finally coming into full maturity, there are now plenty of affordable options. Rather than pay for accounting or ERP software upfront, you have the option select pay-for-what-you-use Cloud ERP products that allow companies to shift from capital to operational expenditures. In addition to simply not wanting to carry the overhead of an internal IT department to deploy and maintain an internally hosted solution, there are a number of good reasons why your small to medium-sized business should think about moving to the cloud.

ERP Consultant Reviews 3 Reasons to Make the Move to Cloud ERP Solutions

1.    REDUCE COSTS: Maintaining an internal accounting or ERP system may require continual upgrades of outdated hardware. Keeping servers performing optimally may not be as cost-effective as a cloud solution. Hosted systems, like Microsoft Dynamics GP, run in a dedicated environment that is maintained by the host with no annual upgrade fees. You can say goodbye to expenditures for upgrades to server hardware and software.

2.    DISASTER RECOVERY:   One of the hidden (but perhaps one of the biggest) benefits of running your ERP system in the cloud is business continuity and disaster recovery. Even the best internal IT staff can’t guarantee 99.9% uptime, but most cloud ERP providers can and do. Additionally, many smaller companies haven’t taken time to establish adequate disaster recovery plans. Having a cloud solution in place that allows for live cut-over should disaster strike can be the first step in forming a sound DR plan.

3.    SECURTIY:  Security is something even the smallest company needs to worry about: client and vendor records, finances, payroll – these all require high levels of security. Hosted Microsoft Dynamics GP runs with encryption and includes authentication protocols and security policies to prevent unwanted access to data, and can also be configured to meet industry-specific compliance requirements. Also, purchasing from a Microsoft Value Added Reseller (VAR) like Accountnet, ensures that the data center and technicians managing your system have been carefully vetted.

At Accountnet, we have helped hundreds of companies take the step towards the cloud.  Our experienced and dedicated team of ERP consultants offer a free phone consultation and a no-obligation review of your software to help you determine the right solution for your company. Drop us a note or give us a call at 212-244-9009 to get started.