Essay: ERP Systems In The Cloud - Benefits And Risks" (59 Characters)

ERP Systems in the Cloud

There has been significant media attention and hype about the potential of cloud technologies. Companies are investigating how these technologies can be applied to their ERP Systems requirements. Companies are presented with a number of options which they need to consider. These include:

• On-premise:  This refers to the traditional approach where a company purchases the  licences  for  an  ERP  systems  and  then  installs  it  within  their  company.

• Hosted ERP System:  This refers to where the company purchases the licences for an ERP systems and then installs it on a third party’s infrastructure (hosted) in the cloud. This is sometimes referred to as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).

• Cloud ERP System: This refers to an ERP system which is developed to operate purely in a cloud environment. The company pays a subscription to access the ERP system and shares it with other companies. This is often referred to as Software as a Service (SaaS).

Companies are faced with increasing pressure to investigate the potential of these different offerings and the strengths and weaknesses of each. Management have become aware that you are studying ERP Systems at Victoria University and have given you the task to prepare a research paper on the different ERP system offerings described above, their benefits and risks.

In the discussion you should use case study examples (from literature searches) to demonstrate different company’s experiences in reinforcing the different benefits and weaknesses.

ERP Systems in the Cloud

There has been significant media attention and hype about the potential of cloud technologies. Companies are investigating how these technologies can be applied to their ERP Systems requirements. Companies are presented with a number of options which they need to consider. These include:

• On-premise:  This refers to the traditional approach where a company purchases the  licences  for  an  ERP  systems  and  then  installs  it  within  their  company.

• Hosted ERP System:  This refers to where the company purchases the licences for an ERP systems and then installs it on a third party’s infrastructure (hosted) in the cloud. This is sometimes referred to as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).

• Cloud ERP System: This refers to an ERP system which is developed to operate purely in a cloud environment. The company pays a subscription to access the ERP system and shares it with other companies. This is often referred to as Software as a Service (SaaS).

Companies are faced with increasing pressure to investigate the potential of these different offerings and the strengths and weaknesses of each. Management have become aware that you are studying ERP Systems at Victoria University and have given you the task to prepare a research paper on the different ERP system offerings described above, their benefits and risks.

In the discussion you should use case study examples (from literature searches) to demonstrate different company’s experiences in reinforcing the different benefits and weaknesses.

Your task is to produce a research paper which discusses the issues relating to the above. The paper should demonstrate a depth and breadth of reading and should be appropriately referenced

ERP Systems: An Overview

The enterprise resource planning can be considered as one of the implementation sector which can be very much beneficial for the working of the organization. It can be stated that in the sector of the implementation of the ERP there can be different types of advantage which are related to the technology. It can be stated that there are different types of benefit which can be implemented within the sector of the operation which can excel the various sector of working of the organization. The areas which are majorly impacted in the sector are the management of supply chain, management of the manufacturing and many more area (Hwang and Grant 2016). The concept of the ERP can be considered as a software tool which can be used in the sector of the management of the different resources which is related to the management of the resources. The main advantage sector which can be related to the concept is that it directly gives integrity to the data which can be very much beneficial for the organization who is implementing the technology or the approach. The processing aspect of the data is also taken into consideration in the aspect which can be stated as very much important in the sector of the working as well as the security of the data which would be involved into the concept. In any organization there can be different types of processes which are involved into the proper working which are majorly the distribution, production and delivery of the product.

The main focus point of the report is to take into consideration different aspects which are related to ERP implementation. The main emphasis would be on the sector of the implementation of the technology and how it can be directly being used within the working of the organization. The main factor which can be taken into consideration is the different advantage and disadvantage which is related to the concept of the working of the organization.

One of the important aspects which can be related to the concept of the on premise ERP is that all the working and the functionality of the organization is directly in the hand of the organization. It can be stated that there are different types of functionality which is seen in the sector of the organization. One of the important aspect which should be taken into consideration is that data of the organization is in hand of the organization. In the concept of the on premise ERP it can be stated that there is different sector of implementation which can be taken into consideration which can involve the access of the different operation of the organization. One of the main advantage which can be seen in the sector is that the IT team of the organization would be in housed which means they would be available when the organization needs them (Maier, Laumer and Weinert 2015). Whenever there is an issue within the working of the organization there can be immediate recovery plan implemented within the concept which can be very much beneficial in the sector of the working of the organization.

ERP Systems and Cloud Technologies

Strength: One of the major advantage which can be related to the concept is that the overall system which is related to the operation can directly in control of the organization. They do not depend on any other third party to take control of the operation this can be very much be beneficial for the organization (Maier, Laumer and Weinert 2015). In most of the cases it can be seen that the sector of implementation which is related to the concept can be very much economical due to the factor of different opportunity which can be created from the sector. One of the major advantage which is related to the concept is that the crucial data of the organization are kept in the possession of the organization and most importantly it can be stated that there are no security aspects involved into the sector.  If the data is kept in the hand of any third party different types of implications can be involved into the concept of the working.

Weakness: Taking into consideration the aspect of the weakness in the sector it can be stated that the overall working of the organization would be dependent on the organization itself. As stated earlier all the requirement are in the possession of the organization, there can arise situation were there would be need of hardware and software related to the organization which they have to directly outsource (Lee, Wong and Hoo 2017). This technique of outsourcing would be involving certain amount of money involved into the concept. In the majority of the cases it is seen in complex situation in the sector of the on premise ERP external help are needed by the organization which would be directed towards reaching the desired goal. The main aspect which can be stated here that how the goal would be reached without disruption in the internal working of the organization.

Use case: The Texon organization can be stated as one of the organization which has majorly involved themselves into the working of the on premise sector of ERP. In the implementation stage the organization faced different types of problem which was indicated in the area of the access to the different requirement of the organization which would be aimed at certain pre-defined goal of the organization (Blount et al. 2016). The main aim of the organization was to keep the overall working of the organization in their own control so that there is no issue which are faced within the working of the organization. One of the major advantage which can be stated in this context is that the data of the organization was kept in the possession of the organization which had directly impacted the sector of the operation with very less amount of security issue faced within the access and the availability of the data.

Different ERP System Offerings and Their Benefits and Risks

The hosted ERP can be stated as a supplication of software which can be directly be implemented within the working of the organization. There can be different types of benefit which can be seen in the sector of the working with the implementation of the hosted ERP. One of the most advantage sector which is related to the concept is that the hectic job which is related to the provisioning of the hardware and the software are in the hand of the third party. This can be an added advantage for the organization due to the factor that the organization can focus more on important activity of the organization and leave all the requirement part which is related to the operation to any of the third party (Maier, Laumer and Weinert 2015). In most of the cases the sector of the implementation which is related to the concept can be considered to be complex. In recent times many of the organization tend to be attached with the concept of the hosted ERP which can be an added advantage to the organization. Hereby most of the crucial activity of the organization are done by some other party who is not directly linked up with the organization.

The main functionality of the hosted ERP is provisioned with the help of the VPN which is the virtual private network which can be directly accessed by the organization on different ground so that the different activity of the organization can be done and the security implication would be involved into the working which would be directly enhancing the data security. The concept which is related to the ERP application are directly web enabled application which help in the sector of creation of a means of communication which would be enhancing the sector which is related to the working. There are different types of standard which can be related to the concept which would be directly enhancing the sector of the operation which can be indicated in the sector of the internal operation as well as the external working. The need in the sector which is related to the application network can be stated to one of the most important sector which play a vital role in the event of the terminal server which gives the direct access to the different types of functionality which can be utilized directly by the organization (Ruivo, Oliveira and Mestre 2017). In the hosted sector of the ERP the data can be given importance in a way that the security implication of the data from the different activity of the intruder can be controlled which would be assuring the integrity of the data. The concept of the sector of the data availability can be stated as another important point in the sector which should be taken care of so that there are no issue relating to the access of the data whenever the user needs the data or wants to directly access the data. The linkage aspect of the hosted server and the organization can be considered to be important in the sector.

Case Studies Demonstrating the Strengths and Weaknesses of ERP System Offerings

Strength: One of the major strength which can be connected to the concept is the cost which is applicable in the sector. Relating to other ERP implementations, it can be stated that the concept of the hosted ERP is one of the most advantageous sector which are implemented by most of the organization. On the other hand, high end security is provided to the data which directly involve that there would not be any type of intruder activity involved into the concept (Sun et al. 2016). Hence it can be stated that most of the organization need high end security of the data due to the factor that if data is lost it can directly impact he operation which is involved into the concept. The provisioning of the infrastructure details is provided from the end of the service provider so it can be stated that the organizations IT team can directly concentrate on more vital activity of the organization which may include some of the vital internal activity which may be related to the operation sector. This would be directly increasing the aspect of the saving of the time which can be dedicated to some other sector and different type of competitive advantage can be gained from the concept. In recent times it can be stated that most of the organization tend to include themselves into the concept of the hosted ERP due to the factor that there is different competitive advantage which can be directly gained from the concept.

Weakness: one of the major areas of weakness which can be stated here is that the organization would be dependent to third party relating to certain factors which can be drawback. In most of the situation it can be seen that the data of the organization is saved in the hosted ERP. The organization would not be having any idea of the security which is being enforced into the data and the data would be kept secured. In such cases it can be seen that the different activity which is related to the intruders can be done in the sector of the working which would be affecting the overall working of the organization (SUHAIMI et al. 2016). As seen organization can sometimes face different type of problem which is related to the access problem. This sis due to the factor that there is a connectivity aspect which is related to the concept which should be made in order to access and retrieve the data which is stored in the concept of the database. The organization cannot access the data that is stored due to the factor of lack of connectivity which would be related to the concept.  

Conclusion

Use Case: New shark is an organization which directly deals with different aspects which are related to the IT sector and the organization has directly indulged into the concept of the Hosted ERP. The main sector which can be stated was the provisioning of the infrastructure and the availability of the different infrastructure which is related to the concept. In most of the cases the organization directly indulged into the different aspect of the operation which helped them in the sector of the operation which can be made in the sector.

The concept of Cloud ERP is that it is directly hosted in the concept of the cloud computing (Blount et al. 2016). There are types of advantage which can be seen in the sector of the implementation. One of the major advantage which can be seen in the sector is the platforms which are involved into the aspect. The different platform which are vatable in the concept of the cloud ERP are the Software as a service, platform as a service and infrastructure as a service (Ruivo, Oliveira and Mestre 2017). These platforms can be directly being implemented within the execution of the organization. The main aspect which can be stated here that the organization have to take control of the different aspects which are related to the concept and consider those solutions which would be beneficial for the working. If the sector the adaptation of the service is not taken properly it can directly lead to problem which is associated within the concept of the working. The functionality which is linked to the cloud ERP is that it directly allows the different customer and the organization to share detail of working between two points (Chang and Hsu 2017). In this sector it can be stated that there is different implication of security which is involved into the concert which gives the concept an added advantage in the overall working. In most of the cases the organization have to take training which would be involving how to make use of the different concept which are attached to the aspect and how the different types of benefit can be implemented within the organization.

In this sector of the implementation it can be stated that the concept of the customer relation management plays a very vital role due to the factor that the main aim which is related to the concept is aching the desired standard of operation which would be involved into the working if the organization and gaining of the satisfaction level of the customer. In most of the times the organization directly implement the concept due to the factor that it directly impacts the overall working which is related to the concept and it also directly enhances the sector which is related to the customer management area. Competitive advantage in the internal as well as external working of the organization can be stated as another advantage in the sector of the implementation of the method (Sitati, Cheloti and Njihia 2018). The organization overall working can be enhanced in the sector of the adaptation but on the other hand it can be stated that the sector of the operation and the indulgence aspect into the working can be considered as one of the most important factor which play a vital role in the cloud ERP system.

Strength: The main strength which is related to the concept is that there are different types of opportunity which can be linked with the concept. One of the most important sector are the different infrastructure options which are available for the organization which can be directly be implemented within the concept. In most of the cases it can be stated that organization tend to include different type of competitive advantage within the sector of the implementation of the cloud ERP. The aspect of the cloud ERP with the concept of the software disruption, the major disruption which is caused is in the sector of the resource allocation.

Weakness: One of the weakness which can be stated here is the data security aspect which is involved into the concept. The organization does not have any idea of the different policies of the data protection mechanism which would be included into the data of the organization (Eden, Sedera and Tan 2014). Another important factor which can be included is the provisioning of the services which is related to the concept. The concept can be of different types relating to the resource scaling which takes place within the working of the organization which are very much difficult to take into consideration in the concept of the cloud ERP

Use case: The Contex is an organization which had implemented the concept of the cloud ERP into the working and it can be stated that there are different types of advantage which was directly related to the concept of the operation which was included into the concept (Leu and Lee 2017). Apart from the advantage sector the section of the deployment was quite easy due to the less involvement of the aspect of complexity into the aspect.

Conclusion

The main statement at the end of the report can be made relating to the factor of ERP system which can be adopted in the idea of the working of the organization and there are different advantages which can be seen in the sector. The concept which is related to the ERP can be stated as a technological aspect which in recent times is in the stage of research and it can be stated that in the near coming it would be playing a more governing role which would be directly enhancing the sector of operation which can be gained from the concept.

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