Victoria University BCO6603: Evaluating ERP Systems in the Cloud

This report provides a comprehensive overview of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems within the context of cloud computing, focusing on the different types of cloud ERP systems available, including on-premises, hosted, and cloud ERP solutions. It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of both ERP systems and cloud computing, highlighting key features such as process streamlining, customer relationship management, resource pooling, and scalability. The report also addresses critical issues like data migration, security, and cost-effectiveness associated with ERP implementations. Furthermore, it examines real-world case studies to illustrate the practical applications and challenges of adopting cloud ERP systems in various organizations. The document concludes by summarizing the key findings and emphasizing the importance of understanding the nuances of cloud ERP systems for effective business management. Desklib provides access to this and other solved assignments for students.

Running head: ERP SYSTEMS IN THE CLOUD
ERP Systems in the Cloud
Name of the Student
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ERP SYSTEMS IN THE CLOUD
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Research Objectives...................................................................................................................2
Research Questions....................................................................................................................3
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
Enterprise Resource Planning with Advantages and Disadvantages.....................................3
Cloud Computing with Advantages and Disadvantages........................................................6
On Premises ERP System......................................................................................................9
Hosted ERP System...............................................................................................................9
Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning System.......................................................................10
Case Study Examples with Benefits and Weaknesses.........................................................13
Conclusion................................................................................................................................15
References................................................................................................................................16
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Introduction
ERP or enterprise resource planning could be easily referred to as the significant class
of the software of business management or even the compilation of several incorporated
applications (Leon 2014). The specific organization has the capability of utilizing this
particular software of enterprise resource planning for proper collection, storing, management
and finally interpreting the confidential and sensitive data from several significant business
activities (Chiu et al. 2014). Moreover, the current status of the business commitment, payroll
systems, purchase order and orders are also well tracked by this particular system. This
software of enterprise resource planning is used by the most popular and important
multinational organizations in the entire world for making their business more effective and
efficient (Shaul & Tauber 2013). The following research report will be outlining a brief
discussion on the enterprise resource planning systems within the cloud computing
technology. This report will be focusing on three distinct types of cloud ERP systems, which
are on premises system, hosted ERP systems and the cloud ERP system. Few case study
examples will also be undertaken in this report.
Research Objectives
The few research objectives of the report of ERP Systems in the Cloud are provided
below:
 To know about the software of ERP.
 To learn regarding on premises as well as hosted ERP systems.
 To understand the technology of the cloud computing within ERP system.
 To learn regarding the practical case study examples of various companies using ERP
system.
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Research Questions
The research questions for the research report of ERP Systems in the Cloud are
provided below:
i) What is an ERP system in the cloud?
ii) What could be the important benefits as well as weaknesses of the cloud ERP
systems?
iii) What are on premises and hosted ERP systems?
iv) Which organizations have implemented the cloud ERP system within business?
Discussion
Enterprise Resource Planning with Advantages and Disadvantages
One of the most popular and significant technologies in the technological industry is
the ERP or enterprise resource planning software. This specific technology is properly
utilized by all the successful and famous organizations or enterprises for the core purpose of
integrating the business processes and operations (Hoch & Dulebohn 2013). There are few of
the key or important features of the software and these are provided below:
i) Streamlining the Processes: The first significant characteristic of this enterprise
resource planning software is the specific stream lining of several business processes. Every
enterprise has several business operations as well as business procedures (Seethamraju 2015).
The business processes or operations are extremely important for this business and hence all
the operations are to be executed perfectly. Although, it is being observed during execution of
business operations, the consumption of resources is higher. Hence, process streamlining is
very important for perfectly mitigating the various issues.
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ii) Customer Relationship Management: Another vital feature of this software is that
ERP helps in managing and retaining customers by fulfilling their needs properly. Thus, the
core factor of customer relationship management is properly maintained. CRM is the basic
approach for the proper management of company’s interactions with all the potential or
recent customers (Garg & Garg 2013). The proper utilization of data analysis regarding the
customers is done with the help of CRM. For this purpose, CRM is an important requirement
of the organization and thus ERP helps in retaining this management.
iii) Perfect Customization: The next important characteristic of the ERP software is
that it comprises of the capability of customization. Moreover, it helps its customers or
organizations for customizing the business processes perfectly and properly (Nofal & Yusof
2013). The excess usage of resource consumption is also decreased with this software.
iv) Reducing Consumption of Time: Enterprise resource planning software even
helps to reduce the overall consumption of time eventually and since this time consumption is
lower, ERP software is extremely famous for all types of organizations (Chofreh et al. 2014).
ERP software comprises of several important and significant benefits and these
advantages are properly listed below:
i) Provides High Efficiency: ERP software provides high efficiency to the customers
and hence the repetitive processes are properly removed and eradicated. This is mainly
because ERP helps to reduce the manual data entry and even allows business process
streamlining (Matende & Ogao 2013).
ii) Provides Several Competitive Advantages: Another important benefit of this
software of enterprise resource planning is that it helps in providing the various competitive
advantages for the customers (Tian & Xu 2015). These types of competitive advantages are
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extremely important for the clients of the ERP software for obtaining better efficiency,
popularity and importance in the respective market.
iii) Cost Effective: The next significant benefit of the software of enterprise resource
planning is that this software is absolutely cost effective and does not incur huge costs for its
uses. Any medium sized organization can easily afford the software of ERP and can
streamline its business processes easily and properly (Zeng & Skibniewski 2013). Moreover,
ERP software is even responsible for reducing the operational as well as administrative
expenses by perfectly using the ERP software.
iv) Better Productivity: The next important advantage of the ERP software is that it
provides better productivity by reducing the complexities of business process streamlining.
v) Scalability as well as Flexibility: The fifth vital benefit of the software of
enterprise resource planning is that it is highly scalable as well as flexible and hence
migration to this system is extremely easier (Tasevska, Damij & Damij 2014).
vi) Provides Better Collaboration: Another imperative pro of thid enterprise resource
planning in any business is that it provides better collaboration to the business. It helps to
collaborate with the several business processes and this type of collaboration is extremely
important for the several departments within the business (Chang et al. 2015).
In spite of having these advantages, there are some of the most important and
significant disadvantages of the enterprise resource planning software and these
disadvantages are listed below:
i) Difficult Data Migration: The first disadvantage of this software of ERP is that the
migration of data is extremely difficult here and hence the clients often face major difficulties
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while migrating the data by the help of enterprise resource planning software (Shen, Chen &
Wang 2016).
ii) Lack of Security: The next important disadvantage of this enterprise resource
planning software is that the security system of this software is not at all high and thus it
often becomes the most significant issue to be resolved (Yeh and Xu 2013). The integrity or
the confidentiality of the data that is migrated here is lost and there is no way out to recover
that particular data.
iii) High Indirect Expenses: The third vital disadvantage of the enterprise resource
planning software for any business is that the indirect costs or expenses of this software
implementation is extremely high and hence the total costs of this software goes higher than
expected (Ha & Ahn 2014).
Cloud Computing with Advantages and Disadvantages
Cloud computing is the fastest as well as one of the most secured method of
transferring data from any one location to another. The proper utilization of resources is done
with the help of this technology of cloud computing (Kurbel 2016). There are some of the
major and important features of this technology of cloud computing and they are provided
below:
i) Resource Pooling and Elasticity: The first and the foremost important feature of
this particular technology is that it allows resource pooling or elasticity for the customers.
The users can expand as well as decrease the resources as per their demands and hence excess
usage of the resources is easily eradicated (Antero 2015). The multi tenancy aspect is the
most required feature in this technology through which each and every resource is easily
allocated as well as removed as per the user’s choice.
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ii) Quality of Services: The next feature of this particular technology is that it helps to
improve the total quality of services and for acquiring the high quality of these services, the
technology of cloud computing is being used by the several users (Ram, Corkindale & Wu
2013).
iii) Pay as per Use: Cloud computing even has the major feature of pay as peruse
model. This subsequently means that the users have to pay for only those resources, which
are to be used by the users (Eden, Sedera & Tan 2014). Extra costs are eradicated easily in
this process.
iv) On Demand Service: The fourth feature of the cloud computing technology is that
this is properly based over the self services and even on the service models. The respective
user allows for the proper interaction within the cloud for properly performing any specific
task (Cao, Nicolaou & Bhattacharya 2013).
Cloud computing technology comprises of several important and significant benefits
and these specific advantages are properly listed below:
i) Simple Implementation: The implementation of the cloud computing technology is
extremely simple and hence could be utilized by all the organizations easily and promptly.
ii) Easier Accessibility: Another important advantage of the cloud computing
technology is that it could be easily accessed and moreover the data access is much easier
(Ononiwu 2013).
iii) Business Continuity Planning: The BCP or business continuity planning is easily
done with the help of this technology of cloud computing.
iv) Better Flexibility: Cloud computing is extremely flexible as well as scalable and
thus data migration is much easier here.
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v) Lack of Complexity: The technology of cloud computing does not comprise of any
complexity and hence could be utilized easily by the users (Sundtoft Hald & Mouritsen
2013).
vi) Better Data Recovery: Data recovery is extremely easier and could be done
effectively and efficiently.
In spite of having these advantages, there are some of the most important and
significant disadvantages of the cloud computing technology and these disadvantages are
listed below:
i) Lack of Redundancy: There is no redundancy present in this particular technology
of cloud computing and hence the server of cloud is not at all redundant (Saade & Nijher
2016).
ii) Lack of Control: The next significant disadvantage of the technology of cloud
computing is that there is lack of control within the technology and hence it often becomes a
major problem for the users (Kasemsap 2015).
iv) Bandwidth Issues: The other significant problem with the entire technology of
cloud computing is that it comprises of distinct issues related to bandwidth. For this issue,
even the cloud providers are disturbed and the users do not wish to use the technology of
cloud computing any more (De Toni, Fornasier & Nonino 2015).
v) Lack of Security: The fifth significant disadvantage of the technology of cloud
computing is that there is a distinct lack of security to the data and hence an issue always
prevails that the data would be lost subsequently.
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On Premises ERP System
The On premises ERP system or the ERP system eventually refers to this specific
decision of the organization for sourcing this enterprise resource planning software in house
and then maintaining it at the physical locations (Babaei, Gholami & Altafi 2015). It helps in
elimination of the ordering of delivery on the Web or the utilization of vendor supplies over
the hosted systems of the ERP. There is a specific ability for offering the cloud hosted
systems or the web delivering systems for increasing them properly. Several distinct vendors
are present who significantly promotes the affordable SaaS or software as a service ERP
options for their clients. This type of the on premises ERP system would be involving several
different products, from handling the accounting or payroll to the systems for analyzing or
simulating the business procedures (Chang, Tsai & Chen 2014). The control of the inventory
or even the supply chain problems is easily analyzed with the core help of this on premises
ERP systems. The detailed utilization of the business is majorly related to the software set of
on premises enterprise resource planning. The most basic ideology of this particular ERP
system option is that the hosted or the cloud system does not usually enable the customers for
the modification or supplementing the software in the major areas (Handayani, Hidayanto 7
Budi 2013). The improvement of the software is extremely important for the proper
customization of the business processes and hence providing proper efficiency to the
company. Hence, on premises enterprise resource planning system is extremely popular for
the companies.
Hosted ERP System
The hosted services of the system of enterprise resource planning are the second
option of the ERP can be defined as the outsourced systems of the IT as well as the functions
of this information technology (Dalveren 2014). The respective hosted service provider is
responsible for owning as well as overseeing the infrastructures, administrative tasks or even
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the software for the core purpose of making the system completely available for the
customers, on the Internet. The three distinct components of the hosted services of the
enterprise resource planning software are the SaaS or software as a service, PaaS or platform
as a service and IaaS or infrastructure as a service. These three elements are utilized for
encompassing the network capacity as well as the software or equipment that are being
utilized for supporting the operations like networking elements, hardware, storage and servers
(Chang, Tsai & Chen 2014). The hosted ERP services might be easily provided on the shared
service model, which is even considered as dedicated. In these respective dedicated hosting
environments, the significant service provider is responsible for reserving the infrastructure
elements and servers for each and every customer. For the shared hosting, these services
could be provided to the several customers from the significant pooled resources or charged
for the pay per use basis (Saade & Nijher 2016). The hosted ERP system is basically similar
to the cloud services and the experts often argue that these cloud services could be easily
linked with the other web based services. All of these above mentioned factors clearly depict
that the hosted enterprise resource planning system is extremely efficient as well as effective
for all types of organization.
Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning System
The specific cloud-based ERP software is subsequently utilized to allow every user
for properly accessing the various applications related to software, which is substantially
running on all types of sharing or computing resources by the connection of the Internet (Cao,
Nicolaou & Bhattacharya 2013). Each and every resource in this scenario is basically
controlled in the data centre that is to be dedicated to host the various software applications
on the specific platform. The significant cloud-based software of the enterprise resource
planning is thus referred to the classic SaaS or the software as a service model, which has the
ability of enabling the various users for accessing their enterprise resource planning software
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on the connectivity of the Internet (Ha & Ahn 2014). The cloud based software of the ERP
software is somewhat cheaper as the several resources of cloud computing cannot be easily
maintained as well as controlled over the premises.
There are some of the most significant characteristics of this cloud-based enterprise
resource planning system and these features are listed below:
i) Easier Usability: The first as well as the foremost imperative feature of this cloud-
based enterprise resource planning system is that the usability of this software is much easier
in respect to other systems (Yeh & Xu 2013). This particular software is easily as well as
promptly utilized by each and everyone and hence there is no complexity at all. The easier
implementation is another important feature.
ii) Scalability as well as Flexibility: The next vital characteristic of this cloud based
enterprise resource planning software is that this is highly flexible as well as scalable (Chang
et al. 2015). This particular feature is responsible for easy data migration.
iii) Simpler Customization: The customization is much easier with the presence of
this enterprise resource planning cloud software. There are some of the simplest tasks that are
to be customized easily.
iv) Constant Supporting: Cloud based ERP software provides constant supporting to
the users, hence the organization can easily attend the customers irrespective of the time or
place (Shen, Chen & Wang 2016).
The major advantages of this cloud based ERP software are listed below:
i) Reducing IT Supports: The IT supports are eventually reduced with cloud based
software.
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