Archive for December, 2009

There are several ERP predictions for 2010, most are calling for SaaS and cloud deployments. A few predictions are included below. Nucleus Research lists “cloud adoption” as number 1. Enterprise Irregulars lists cloud growth and innovation as number 1. CIO Magazine lists “cloud computing” when discussing the new role of CIOs. ZDNet, Paul Greenburg lists “cloud and SaaS”...
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An article in CMS by Eric Kimberling inspired a part III to our customizing SaaS ERP posts. In Part I, we looked at the question of whether to customize a SaaS ERP deployment. In Part II, we examined the sources of SaaS and customization savings and advised flexibility. Now we look at some percentages...
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Several organizations are discussing the activities associated with creating SaaS standards. As Dennis Howlett mentions in his article “UK trade groups come together to develop SaaS / cloud standards”, these discussions are business focused and welcomed by most in the industry. The SaaS standards Dream Customers can purchase SaaS applications which share information through a...
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Today, we noticed an interesting blurb from a lead analyst at a well known research company. The note appeared in an article about SAP’s hybrid approach to ERP. Before I get started, I need to point out that I’m using the word “cloud” as a synonym for software as a service (SaaS) and/or on demand,...
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An ongoing problem in IT organizations is the fact that critical information is often stored in an “unstructured” format. From a database perspective, unstructured data is anything that cannot be stored in rows and columns and must be placed into BLOBs (binary large objects). From a business perspective, this can include emails, word-processing documents,...
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In their paper “Nine questions to ask about SaaS,” Warren Wilson and Timothy Stammers from Ovum hit the nail on the head when they say: Customers’ needs can change for any number of reasons – such as growth, acquisitions, or changes in the competitive landscape – so the right SaaS-versus-on-premise choice today may not be...
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There are reporters, analysts, vendors, journalists, and bloggers talking about SaaS and the impact it has on ERP software. So, it is good to hear from somebody in the field who is selling, implementing, and deploying ERP solutions. Read an account of ERP trends from a field representative.
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An article in Manufacturing & Technology eJournal reminds us that SaaS and cloud computing can lower your costs. The chart, reproduced below, portrays several cost criteria and concludes that you need to consider SaaS vendors in your decision making process. ERP Cloud Considerations What the chart doesn’t show is the relative size of the “X’s”. For...
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