Should you choose a hosted or cloud ERP software solution?

When it comes to selecting the right enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to manage your critical business processes, there are infinite options to choose from and the best solution depends on your unique business needs. One question to ask to help narrow the search is do you want a hosted or cloud ERP software? 

This post will outline the differences between hosted ERP software – both on-premise and cloud-hosted – and cloud ERP software.

Traditionally, ERP systems have been on premise or installed locally on servers owned by your company. In the last 15 years, however, many systems have either been designed or re-designed to keep up with the fast-paced, competitive world that requires you to make quick, accurate decisions in response to changes in the environment. This has led to a new generation of ERP solutions where your system and data are fully accessible over the Internet. When your ERP solution is available through an internet connection, your employees can access the information they need to do their jobs from any location. Whether they are at a job site managing a project, in a sales meeting showing projections to a client, or on an airplane reviewing quarterly financials, your critical business information and transaction data can be viewed, adjusted, and reported on at any time, in any place.

Information accessibility is a big advantage that you need to consider when choosing the right solution to invest in. If this is the avenue you want to pursue, then you need to understand the difference between hosted ERP and cloud ERP. Even though they are both delivered over the Internet, they are very different from each other.

There are three main ways to deploy an ERP software: on-premise, hosted in the cloud, or fully-cloud based. On-premise is the traditional approach where you deploy, or hosted, the software on your own servers onsite. Hosted in the cloud is a similar approach, but instead of hosting on your own server you host the software either at a third party data center or in the cloud. Lastly, fully cloud-based, or software as a service (SaaS), means a company pays for monthly access to a software and bears no responsibility for hosting or maintaining the software.

All three types of ERP solutions have their own benefits and drawbacks, and all come with ongoing costs. A key differentiator with a cloud-based solution is that updates are automatically applied, meaning your system is always up to date at no additional cost. With hosted solutions, either on-premise or in the cloud, these updates are optional, which is a benefit if you want complete control over your environment or a disadvantage if you don’t want the cost of applying updates.

At Rand Group, we offer an unbiased approach to software selection and offer both hosted and cloud ERP software. We are both a Microsoft gold partner and a NetSuite Solution Provider, and will help your business select the best ERP software to meet your unique objectives. Contact our ERP consultants today to schedule a consultation.