Your ERP software, to Go Cloud or Not?

Many a time, to go cloud or not, for your ERP software (or other software), is often a hard decision for the SME business owner.

The following are the summation list of points for your thought, throughout my experiences a cloud software vendor, and being asked repeatedly by SME business owners in Malaysia.

The Pros:

1) Most cloud service provider guarantee over 99% server Up time.

2) You can upgrade or downgrade your server specification (Memory, Storage, bandwidth), with a few click.

3) Security like antivirus, firewall, server performance monitoring are all out of the box.

4) Manual or Auto Server backup ( daily, weekly, etc) is easy, with a few clicks.

5) Low upfront fee for you as you only pay by monthly or per usage, and can start using it instantly.

6) Better availability of electricity, air-conditioning, internet connectivity, etc.

7) 24/7 physical security with camera and guard to prevent burglary and theft.

8) Shorten your procurement procedures to purchase hardware, network and hiring IT personnel.

9) Allow your user to work from home, anytime, anywhere, without the need to use VPN and such.

10) Regular patches to the operating system can be done by cloud provider.

On the other hands, these are some considerations that you wish to host it by yourself.

Check-list for On-Premise Hosting

1) Higher upfront cost to buy the server, antivirus software, backup, firewall, router, etc.

2) Space and facility for server hosting, air-conditioning (24x7 at around clock), and the cost involved.

3) Higher chance to get infected by virus if one of your PC in the office is infected and your server is running within the same Local Area Network.

4) Higher chance of burglary/theft.

5) You will have to pay for higher and time consuming, for any support because any hardware failure issue, IT vendor will come to your office to fix it and charge you accordingly.

6) Most of the SME does not have a dedicated IT personnel. Go cloud would be a worry free about hardware failure, software upgrade, backup, internet issue, etc.

The Cons:

1) Depending on complexity of your software and hardware, in some cases, on-premise ownership of the hardware and software, over long term of period, could be cheaper.

2) Security concern on the data and application on the cloud. The maturity of the Software As A Service has improved in all aspects, including the security.

3) Internet connection is down in the office. Considering that most people have mobile data plan (Maxis, Digi, Celcom, etc), using the hotspot to access the cloud software is always possible.