A GOOD WAY TO UNDERSTAND WHETHER AN ERP VENDOR OFFERS A TRUE CLOUD SOLUTION IS TO ASK THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
- DO YOU NEED TO INSTALL SOFTWARE AFTER PURCHASE OR ARE THE FUNCTIONS AUTOMATICALLY AVAILABLE AFTER PURCHASE?
- DO I NEED TO UPGRADE THE APPLICATION MANUALLY OR ARE UPGRADES ROLLED OUT AUTOMATICALLY TO ALL USERS?
- IS THE PLATFORM EASY TO CUSTOMISE OR ARE THERE ADDITIONAL COSTS AND CODING EVEN SIMPLE APPLICATIONS?
- DOES THE PLATFORM OFFER WEB-BASED APIS THAT ALLOW EASY INTEGRATION WITH OTHER SYSTEMS?
- WHAT IS THE SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE OF THE APPLICATION? B/S OR C/S?
PURE CLOUD APPLICATIONS LIKE NETSUITE, WORKDAY AND SALESFORCE DO NOT REQUIRE INSTALLATION, ARE B/S ARCHITECTURE, OFFER WEB-BASED APIS AND ROLLOUT SOFTWARE UPGRADES AUTOMATICALLY TO ALL USERS.
NETSUITE IS ESPECIALLY EASY TO CUSTOMISE BECAUSE IT OFFERS A RANGE OF DEVELOPMENT TOOLS THAT ALLOW USERS TO MAKE MAJOR ADJUSTMENTS, OFTEN WITHOUT HARD CODING.
OTHER SOLUTIONS LIKE YONYOU, KINGDEE, MS DYNAMICS AND SAP B1 ARE IN THE "FAKE" CLOUD CATEGORY BECAUSE THEY USE C/S TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPED IN THE 90S THAT IS JUST HOSTED ON A CLOUD. THIS MAKES IT DIFFICULT TO CUSTOMISE AND INTEGRATE THESE SYSTEMS, AND MEANS THEY REQUIRE INTENSIVE MAINTENANCE TO RUN AND UPGRADE COMPARED WITH PURE CLOUD SYSTEMS.