Introduction

The purpose of this research report intends to provide clarificationson what cloud technologies is and is not and the three major offeringsof cloud, namely Software as a Service (SAAS), Infrastructure as aService (IAAS) and Platform as a Service (PAAS). The report furtherdiscussed how Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems evolved inusing cloud technologies and its benefits, risks, limitations, costingimplications and applicability to the business requirements. Thereport concludes with key findings of ERP in cloud and arecommendation if company were to move to cloud based systems.

Background on ERP System

ERP systems as outlined in the diagram below (Davenport 1998),represents an integrated software solution that enabled information tobe entered once and subsequently shared throughout an organization(West and Daigle 2004). ERP information systems are enterprise wide,integrated and have broad functionality for the business (Hawking2007).

The use of integrated ERP system with on-line information, commondatabase and shared management tools allows users to have more timelyand reliable analysis on the reporting of sales data, trends, customerinformation, and costing data which not just reduces cost ofoperations (Lorge 2014), improve efficiencies, reduces inventory andpersonal cost (O’Leary 2004), for example the USD50million savings inlogistics and material management by Owens Cornings (Umble, Haft &Umble 2003). ERP not just streamline processes but more importantlyhelps organizations to be more competitive by making better-informeddecisions (Wagle 1998, Monk & Wagner 2009 and Sage n.d) and managebusiness growth (Lorge 2014). ERP systems has traditionally been amajor IT investment as organizations purchase the software license andinstalls on their hardware and server, then maintain and run thesystem on their own network, a model known as On-Premises Software

(Arnesen 2013).

Cloud Technologies

Cloud technologies intend to change the method of doing business byusing the Web for the delivery of IT resources owned by a vendor thatserves multitenant or customers (DeFelice 2010, European Network &Information Security Agency (ENISA) n.d.). This model enablesconvenient, quick and faster uptime and easy on-demand accessibilityto pooled computing resources by the users of a customer organization(Kepes 2011) and even in a geographically remote area (Britt 2013).Cloud technologies also reduce the complexity of interface withexternal business process compared to in-house ERP (Shacklett 2013).A typical cloud features On-demand self-service, Resource pooling,Broad network access, Rapid elasticity and Measured service (Kepes2011, Mell & Grance 2011). Cloud based computing allows users toreduce drastically upfront capital expenditure cost and on-goingmaintenance cost (DeFelice 2010, Gould 2011) and pay a fee for usageof services provided by vendor and this enabled the cloud serviceindustry to gain popularity with an estimated global cloud servicerevenue reaching USD68.3billion in 2010 (DeFelice 2010). One earlyprovider in cloud based ERP system is Plex Systems in 2001 (FoodEngineering & ingredients 2012).

Cloud services is often mixed up with hosted services or applicationservice provider (ASP) where the user organization is only contractingthe hardware server responsibility of acquisition and maintenance to athird party but still retains purchasing cost, upgradingresponsibility of their dedicated software and the arrangement of thishosting is normally a single tenant arrangement (Arnesen 2013).

An illustration of the difference between On-Premise, Hosted and Cloudby Utzig, Holland, Horvath & Manohar (2013)

Cloud services are typically classified as Software as a Service(SAAS), Platform as a Service (PAAS) and Infrastructure as a Service

(IAAS) (Merrill & Kang 2014, Kepes 2011, McAfee 2011, Mell & Grance2011, Capachin 2010, European Network & Information Security Agency,n.d.)

As illustrated by Oracle (2012) as below

and can be deployed as a public cloud or as a private cloud or as ahybrid of both or as a community cloud (Mell & Grance 2011). Publiccloud is when data stored at shared servers are not separated from thegeneral population, and designed to be used by a market, notindividual organization, for example Gmail, Facebook, WebEx, GoogleApps, Microsoft Azure, Salesforce.com, Amazon EC2 (Capachin 2010), andPrivate cloud is when data is stored at dedicated servers, not costeffective but preferred choice when sensitivity of data is criticaland meant to be a shared resource that limits its access to oneenterprise or its associates (Capachin 2010) and Hybrid cloud is acombination of both format and one normal way is to store sensitivedata in private cloud and utilize cloud advantage like rapidscalability for not so sensitive activities in a public cloud. In theevent of an outrage, users still can access the system via Hybridcloud, one example is Cetrom system used by DPR Group, a publicrelations and marketing firm in 2011 (Britt 2013). Community cloud iswhen data is stored on shared servers but grouped by organizationlevel, especially for compliance, example in HIPAA (Merrill & Kang2014).

SAAS providers take care of almost every aspect of the system fromsoftware to platform to hardware, from trouble shooting to maintenanceto capacity planning and backup (McAfee 2011). All users requiredminimal in-house support and configuration to start up the usage andend-users of the cloud based system is delivered over Web (Kepes2011). Examples of SAAS are Office 365, Yahoo Mail, Google Apps ,

Salesforce.com and SAP Business by Design (Merrill & Kang 2014),Sojourner by Sita Corp (Britt 2013).

IAAS providers are owners of the physical location of the storage forcloud and they provide network, security, power, server, software,computing hardware and storage hardware. Examples are Rackspace, CSC,Amazon, Microsoft and Oracle (Merrill & Kang 2014, Oracle 2012).

PAAS providers are specifically targeting user need in software codingdevelopment, with hardware, software and even hosting servicesprovided to cater to the software development needs of a tenant orcustomer. Examples are Microsoft Azure and Force.com (Merrill & Kang2014).

Discussions on ERP System in the Cloud

• Software as a Service (SAAS)

SAAS vendors like Office 365, Yahoo Mail, Google Apps,Salesforce.com, SAP, Microsoft, NEC-Ramco, etc provide access tomultiple customers the common standard software and datawarehouse that is hosted at a central location. Different piecesof software are integrated via Application Programming Interfaces(API) (Kepes 2011). User Interface (UI) is standardized for allusers of the cloud service (Capachin 2010). In most casescustomers are not aware of the actual location of the hardwareand software. Customers connect to the system using internet withminimal need of in-house configuration or technical support(Merrill & Kang 2014).

In this manner, SAAS can serve many customers using the samesoftware and hardware.

The key application of SAAS is when a technology is fundamentallyrequired for doing business but having a unique version otherthan competitors actually does not provide competitive advantage,for example the email system.

SAAS is useful in a sales management and customer relationship

management situation where mobile connection via internet isrequired due to the vast geographical territories of anorganization and a major pioneer is Salesforce.com with theirCustomer Relationship Management products.

Email newsletter campaign interplay between an organization andthe outside world is best executed via SAAS or for a short termproject specific software collaboration work.

One example is the use of Zendesk by Groupon to scale up theircustomer service capacity to process millionth customer tickets(Kepes 2011).

SAAS is also useful for applications that may have volume spikesdue to seasonality, for example financial tax, billing or for theretail industry.

The sales revenue of SAAS vendors is estimated at USD12.1billionin 2011 (Khurana & Verma 2013).

Benefits

Benefits of SAAS (DeFelice 2010, Kepes 2011, Persaud 2011, Rao &Mohapatra 2012, Computer Economics Report 2012, Khurana & Verma2013, Merrill & Kang 2014, Saran 2014) can be summarized asfollow:

• Low cost of implementation because the economy of scale ofSAAS vendors means that cost to customer is a fractioncompared to if customer were to set up their own dedicatedsimilar system. Low IT cost to users as initial heavycapital investment cost in software development and housingof datacenters and networks are provided by vendors. Userscan afford lesser IT staff internally.

• Strategic use of internal IT resources to develop system andsoftware that are unique which provides competitiveadvantage to the organization rather than spending limitedIT resources to maintain cloud SAAS systems.

• Fast set up and highly scalable and big capacity for thesystem as both hardware and software are fully taken-careoff by vendors and users only need an internet connection,providing much agility in a fast changing and competitiveworld.

• Better system and data security and backup system by vendorsthan individual users as the vendors have the financialmight to provide industry leading technical expertise toprotect their core offering from failures. Vendors are morelikely to perform better in disaster recovery. For example asurvey by Alert Logic (Dropbox 2014) found that cloud isless risky compared to on-premise system in malware and botattack and also app attack, however cloud is more vulnerablein web app attack.

• High mobility and availability and ease of connectivity forusers.

• Streamlined and iterative updates.

• Reduce need of customization.

• Cost to users is subscription based, mostly pay per use.

• Rapid elasticity in response to sudden surge in computingneeds.

• To unify disparate data from existing systems within anorganization

Suitability

SAAS may not be suitable for when internet connection is notstable and reliable or when software processing speed issuperfast or when existing internal system is unique and has anadvantage over competitors (Kepes 2011). SAAS is also notsuitable when customization is required or the securityrequirement of user organization is different from what vendorcan provide to all tenants (Khurana & Verma 2013).

Risks

The risk of SAAS is that internet link is the only route and anydisruption and connectivity problem from user to SAAS vendormeans the system is down and not available to the user, unlikeOn-Premise Software that is maintained in-house and networkedwithin the premise of organization.

Data migration from one SAAS vendor to another vendor can pose achallenge as the data format and architecture of software mightbe different.

Applications

Since SAAS allows cloud enabled ERP to be deployed via vendor’sserver, users only need to pay per use. Some of the providers areGoogleApps, Salesforce.com, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Netsuite,WebEx, SuccessFactor (Capachin 2010). This is an economicaloption for many SMEs to benefit from the integrated system of anadvance ERP technology whilst keeping cost low. One example isthe offer from ERP vendor, SAP All-In-One package to Indian SMEs(Mahara 2013) and another is by Microsoft Azure cloud (Kanaracus2013) for their Dynamics ERP version of NAV or GP that can beserved via public or private cloud or a hybrid of both. TheMicrosoft Dynamics GP starter pack targeting SMEs is only USD5000for 3 users (Gould 2013).

• Infrastructure as a Service (IAAS)

Users or customers outsourced their on-demand service for cloudcomputing infrastructure like server, network, storage center,operating system, space for equipment to a vendor provider. Theinfrastructure can be private or public or a combination of bothand the delivery can be via public cloud or private cloud or evena hybrid of both (Kepes 2011). IAAS generally is characterized as

• Multiple users or customer on a single hardware

• Dynamic scaling for each customer based on needs

• Resources distributed as a service

• Utility pricing model that allows variable costing.

Services provided by IAAS are virtual-machine-image library,file-based storage, firewalls, load balancer, IP address, andvirtual local network (Khurana & Verma 2013).

Examples of providers of this service are Amazon Web Services andRackspace (Kepes 2011) and Amazon EC2, Google compute engine, HPcloud (Khurana & Verma 2013). However, the distinction betweenIAAS and PAAS may not be clear due to cross over of extraservices provided by the vendors.

Benefits

Benefits of IAAS (Kepes 2011, Computer Economics Report 2012,Oracle 2012, Khurana & Verma 2013, Merrill & Kang 2014) can besummarized as follow:

• Low cost of implementation because capital expenditureinvestment is paid by vendors and due to sharing ofinfrastructure, IAAS vendors have the economy of scalecompared to if customer were to set up their own dedicatedon-premise infrastructure system.

• Maintenance cost and operational cost by vendor is alsolower per computing power / storage space due to economy ofscale.

• Fast set up and highly scalable and big capacity for thesystem as hardware is ready and

by vendors and users only need to provide the software anddatabase and internet connection. Allows big data analytics.

• Better system and data security and hardware backup systemby vendors than individual

tenant customer as the vendors have the financial might to

provide industry leading technical expertise to protecttheir core offering from failures. Vendors are more likelyto perform better during disaster recovery. For example asurvey by Alert Logic (Dropbox 2014) found that cloud isless risky compared to on-premise system in malware and botattack and also app attack, however cloud is more vulnerablein web app attack.

• High mobility and availability and ease of connectivity forusers.

• Cost to users is subscription based, mostly contractuallyagreed via a service level agreement (SLA) for volume usagerate plus some minimum commitment fee.

• Rapid elasticity in response to sudden surge in computingneeds.

• Streamlined and automated scaling.

• Allows organization specific data storage format andsoftware customization

Suitability

IAAS, like any cloud service, may not be suitable for locationswhere internet connection is not stable and reliable. IAAS isalso not suitable when regulatory compliance does not allowoffshore data storage and processing. IAAS also can’t as good ason-premise for high speed processing (Kepes 2011), therefore ifcustomer’s capital budget is sufficiently big enough, IAAS isless favorable versus on-premise set up (Khurana & Verma 2013).

Risks

The risk of IAAS is that internet link is the only route and anydisruption and connectivity problem from user to IAAS vendormeans the system is down and not available to the user, unlikeOn-Premise Software that is maintained in-house and networkedwithin the premise of organization. Potential of longer term

higher cost due to dependency on vendor’s infrastructure upgradesand SLA contractual lock-in period (Khurana & Verma 2013).

Applications

Since IAAS allows cloud enabled ERP to be deployed via vendor’sinfrastructure, users only need to pay per use, some providersare IBM, Atat, Verizon, Flexscale, GoGrid, SunGuard (Capachin2010). One example is Live Smart Solutions using Rackspace astheir IAAS provider that enables scalability rapidly when volumejumps 50X in 2010 (Kepes 2011). Another example is Utah USAIntermountain Healthcare leveraging on Big Data analyticscapability to process 90 million electronic healthcare recordsand use of Hadoop by Morgan Stanley to process customer financialgoals (Merrill & Kang 2014). Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center12c offers users to streamline operations, increase productivityand reduce system downtime as IAAS benefits (Oracle 2012).

• Platform as a Service (PAAS)

PAAS operates like the SAAS; however the target usage is forsoftware development. PAAS serves as a platform for softwarecreation and allows quick and easy creation of web applications(Kepes 2011). Multitenant of PAAS can create a composition ofmultiple web services using open source software (Khurana & Verma2013).

The general characteristics of PAAS & SAAS are similar, howeverPAAS is unique and characterized (Kepes 2011) as

• A service to develop, test, host, maintain, deployapplications in an integrated way

• Cloud based creation tools to help to create, modifydifferent user interface (UI)

• Same development application is being used at the sametime by different users or tenants

• Project planning and communications tools that support

collaboration in team based software development

• Utilization of proprietary data for software creation

• Scalability including load balancing and failover

• Subscription and usage billing

However, the distinction between IAAS and PAAS may not be cleardue to cross over of extra services provided by the vendors.

Benefits

Benefits of PAAS (Kepes 2011, Computer Economics Report 2012,Khurana & Verma 2013, Merrill & Kang 2014) can be summarized asfollow:

• Facilitate multiple developers working on a project

• Allows external party interactions with the project

• Automate testing and deployment

• Eases the difficulty in rapid development and iteration ofsoftware

• High mobility and availability and ease of connectivity forusers.

• Streamlined and iterative updates.

• Cost to users is subscription based, mostly pay per use.

• Rapid elasticity in response to sudden surge in computingneeds

Suitability

PAAS, like any cloud service, may not be suitable for locationswhere internet connection is not stable and reliable. PAAS isalso not suitable when proprietary language is needed in softwaredevelopment. There is a limitation on customization when usingPAAS and a danger of tenant being locked-in by the platform

provider (Kepes 2011).

Risks

The risk of PAAS is that internet link is the only route and anydisruption and connectivity problem from user to PAAS vendormeans the system is down and not available to the user, unlikeOn-Premise Software that is maintained in-house and networkedwithin the premise of organization. Potential of longer termhigher cost due to dependency on vendor’s infrastructure upgradesand SLA contractual lock-in period (Khurana & Verma 2013).

Applications

Some of the providers are WebEx Connect, Windows Azure,Force.com, Intuit, Google (Capachin 2010). One example is pointof sales provider Menumate using Force.com PAAS facility tomigrate from a disparate in-house software tool kit to a moreorganized, centralized integrated platform.

Another examples of PAAS is Heroku that uses Ruby on Raildevelopment language (Kepes 2011) and another example is the useof Force.com as the PAAS platform to create applications forSalesforce.com CRM programs

Summary

Cloud technologies widen the options available for ERP applicationswith three different types of services provided by SAAS, IAAS andPAAS. Cloud access can be arranged via a private cloud for bettersecurity or public cloud for lower cost or a combination of both,hybrid cloud by optimizing cost and matching the sensitivity ofapplication for each of the services and access mode.

Cloud generally is a cost effective option to use to improveintegration of information for an organization due to lower start upand on-going maintenance cost, ease of access using web, fasterdeployment, leverage on the expertise and latest regular upgrades byproviders, economy of scale of the provider, rapid scalability, pre-

configured templates that are adopted from industry best practices(Miranda 2013) and better use of in-house IT resource. All thesepositive attributes enable SMEs to adopt ERP systems more readily(Britt 2013, Miranda 2013). Some bigger companies also benefited fromlow cost possibilities by using cloud, for example Mohawk Fine Paper,a USD300 million turnover 725 employee company paid USD1000 to LiaisonTechnologies to integrate data through cloud based connection ratherthan the traditional EDI method (Mitchell 2012).

However, cloud may not be able to fulfill organization customizationneeds and the technologies can be generic to all users. As a result,organizations with financial might are still not adopting cloud ERP ina big way. The concern on data security (Rao & Mohapatra 2012) andintegrity is still negatively perceived by bigger corporations andthey still do not trust the safety of leaving to the hands of 3rd partycompletely their data and processes and also the perceived hacking ofdata if organizations rely every systems and process done via theinternet. Reliability of cloud is also a major concern for biggerorganization (McAfee 2011).

Despite having many public clouds, standardization remains an issue tobe resolved. One example of standardization is the adoption ofISO20022 XML standard in electronic bank account management (Capachin2010). By standardization of their core to dramatically lower their ITcost, organizations can then differentiate at the edge to be morecompetitive.

Another challenge is to move a bunch of legacy systems in a big globalorganization to the new cloud environment which is disruptive duringthe transition and can be ill afforded by on-going concerns (McAfee2011). However, big company can start off by adopting a new systemrequirement in cloud whilst keeping the other existing legacy on-premise systems in-place, an example is Minnesota-based Land O’LakesInc. that achieved millions of dollars in savings in their newprocurement system that automated the process flows across theprocure-to-pay cycle, hence improved negotiation capabilities (Miranda2013). Another example is the use of cloud based GT Nexus by Wolverine

Worldwide, a USD2.7 billion turnover shoe company with brands likeHush Puppies, Sperry, Merrell to track in real-time the current stateof orders and shipment via internet (Pratt 2014).

The potential of cloud has spurred bigger traditional ERP vendors tomove strategically to be ready for the market by going on anacquisition spree with Oracle purchase of Sun Microsystem in 2010 forUSD 5.6 billion and the SAP USD 8 billion purchase of Ariba andSuccessFactor (Engineering & Technology 2013) or the forming ofstrategic alliance of NEC with Ramco to provide SAAS based ERP(Software Snapshot 2013). Revenue growth from Cloud offering isrespectable and progressing well with market leader Amazon Q2 resultsstill growing at 49% versus 2014 same period which is slower comparedto Microsoft at 164% and IBM at 86% but higher compared to Google at47% (Gaudin 2014).

Some Recommendations for planning a move to Cloud

• Gain experience by experimentation and trials with some reputableSAAS that an organization can take risk with, for exampleMicrosoft Office 365 email system, Salesforce.com CRM with acontrol group before expanding to the total organization.

• Implement next IT project using PAAS or IAAS cloud technologies

• Work out a plan with current IT provider their progression oncloud

• Prior checks with legal counsels to ensure compliance to laws,regulations of each of the country or location that the cloud ERPsystem is meant to be rolled out to.

Conclusion

Cloud is the future for further utilization by all organizations intheir software systems that are technological advance but need nothave proprietary technical advantage, for example email system.

Bigger organization tends to try to keep within their control data andsoftware that are unique to them and provides a clear competitive

advantage and this thinking is preventing them from migrating to cloudeven though they may have a hosted arrangement now. Surveys shows thatwhile cloud is expect to grow 19% per year until 2015, total ITspending on cloud is still below 5%, especially larger companies(McAfee 2011).

However, NGOs and SMEs stand to benefit in improving their internalbusiness processes by adopting a standard cloud system that is welltested.

Once the concern on security is lifted and trust level and confidencelevel increased, cloud ERP will grow at a much faster rate.

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