TECHNOLOGY TO CLOUD TECHNOLOGY FOR ERP

Technology to Cloud Technology for ERP

Technology to Cloud Technology for ERP

Introduction

Any company making its way as a manufacturer or distributor of goods in today's economy faces a myriad of new challenges, including increased client and partner demands and intense competitive pressure. Globalization, changing regulatory requirements and economic “ups and downs” are only a few of the environmental factors forcing companies to re-think everything from means of production to people, processes and technology. (Forger, 2009)

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a method of using computer technology to link various functions—such as accounting, inventory control, and human resources—across an entire company. ERP is intended to facilitate information sharing, business planning, and decision making on an enterprise-wide basis. ERP enjoyed a great deal of popularity among large manufacturers in the mid-to late-1990s. Most early ERP systems consisted of mainframe computers and software programs that integrated the various smaller systems used in different parts of a company. Since the early ERP systems could cost up to $2 million and take as long as four years to implement, the main market for the systems was Fortune 1000 companies.(James, 2009)

Need for ERP

ERP and supply chain management (SCM) modules are moving to the cloud seemingly on a weekly basis, and the variety of cloud computing choices for manufacturers has never been richer. But many companies still keep some enterprise applications on-premises, which makes finding the right functional mix challenging. There's even more to think about in ERP cloud computing deployment options, which include not just Software as a Service (SaaS), but public and private clouds and traditional third-party hosting.

As sales of ERP systems to large manufacturing companies began to slow, some vendors changed their focus to smaller companies. According to a survey by AMR research reported in Modern Materials ...