Summary: SaaS ERP is a cloud-based enterprise resource planning software delivered over the internet and sold through subscriptions. SaaS ERP significantly improves business communications and enhances an organization’s ROI. This blog will talk about SaaS ERP, ERP systems, types of ERP systems, and benefits of SaaS ERP over on premises ERP.
You’ll also learn about cloud ERP, steps to deploy cloud ERP and the need for SaaS ERP for businesses. Choosing the right ERP software is necessary for companies to achieve their goals. f you are unsure about what ERP , SaaS ERP system and cloud ERP systems this blog is just for you.
What is SaaS ERP?
SaaS ERP is a type of cloud based enterprise resource planning software that runs on the cloud provider’s or vendors’ servers, is delivered as a service over the internet, and sold through subscriptions. The SaaS ERP solutions have helped companies maintain their procurement processes, SaaS accounting, project management, and others.
Earlier, the SaaS ERP solutions could capture large sets of business data but faced challenges while producing reports. For the IT departments, the SaaS ERP systems were always about large, time-consuming, and expensive deployments that required specific infrastructure or hardware requirements.
However, with software as a service (SaaS) and cloud computing deployments, there is a change in the way organizations think about Saas ERP software. Businesses can simplify their technology requirements and see a higher and faster ROI by moving ERP to cloud solutions.
Cloud ERP solutions enable other key technologies to integrate, like decision support systems, mobility, collaboration, and social systems. Organizations can leverage cloud platforms and integrated suites with industry-leading scalability and high performance, improved security, and reliability to ensure that your ERP as a SaaS system is successful.
What is Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)?
SourceEnterprise resource planning (ERP) is a process that companies use to integrate and manage the most crucial parts of their business. The ERP system allows users to surface, understand and track saas business metrics.
Today’s ERP systems automate and integrate crucial operational business functions and provide a single source of data insights from sources including financial reporting, accounts payable, general ledger, and others.
ERP functions include:
- Accounting
- Financial management
- Procurement
- Project management
- Supply chain management
- Adaptive intelligence
- Enterprise Performance Management (EPM)
- Analytics
- Risk Management
Individual ERP applications can offer SaaS. A complete suite of ERP applications forms an ERP system to combine business processes and communicate effectively, enabling a data flow between applications.
An ERP software system allows project management and better performance that helps to plan, predict, budget, and accurately report an organization’s financial health.
What are the Different Types of ERP Systems?
SourceThe most common types of ERP software system includes:
1. On Premises ERP Software
On premises ERP software systems is the traditional ERP software maintained in physical office space and implemented on-site within an organization. Once implemented, it is hosted on the company’s personal computers and servers for full support, control, and ownership of the entire system. SaaS lifecycle management software
2. Cloud ERP Software
Cloud ERP software is a web-based solution popular as ERP software SaaS. In SaaS ERP management software , an organization stores data and access it on any device using an internet connection by purchasing it via subscription.
Cloud ERP system also has a private cloud that runs on the EP vendor’s cloud or a cloud service provider. As a result, businesses get continual support, training, security management, updates, and flexible customization supported by the ERP vendors.
3. Hybrid ERP Software
Hybrid ERP software is a blended implementation of ERP on-premises ERP systems and cloud based ERP solutions. The combination of deployment services and hosting vary from each provider.
The hybrid ERP solutions allow ERP users to migrate between delivery models or integrate SaaS benefits not available to existing implementations.
6 Benefits of SaaS ERP Systems vs. On Premises ERP Systems
SourceThe debate between on premises ERP vs SaaS ERP has been doing rounds for a long time. However, it is better to end the discussion of ERP SaaS vs ERP systems to help companies choose the best for their business.
Let’s see how the discussion between ERP SaaS vs ERP on premises solution ends!
Financial management CRM systems do a great job by providing strong visibility into enterprise data. Organizations today want to use their financial data to streamline processes and improve decision-making and profitability.
And in recent years, capabilities for data output, monitoring, and reporting have become crucial to organizations. As a result, the financial management system’s reporting requirements have rapidly increased with the demand.
At a minimum level, every company needs a report covering annual, month-end, and quarter close, along with basic financial statements for expenses, balances, and incomes. Though these outputs were always available, adjusting these reports or adding derivations for other needs wasn’t easy.
It is crucial for financial system software to create ad-hoc outputs and generate pre-built reports.Add requirements for information visualization, in-depth data analysis, and narrative reports.
In addition, companies discover that ERP software solutions must seamlessly work with traditional, on premise solutions. The modern key benefits of SaaS ERP include:advanced reporting systems like Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) systems.
The SaaS ERP model was designed to deliver a key set of business benefits vs traditional, on-premises ERP solutions. These modern business benefits include:
1. Lower Upfront Costs
- It eliminates the need for additional middleware and hardware.
- It reduces implementation and installation charges.
2. On-Demand Scalability
- It reduces disturbances while maintaining service levels.
- It scales instantly to meet the transactional demands and growing data.
3. Increased Innovation
- It easily accesses support, collaboration, and analytics tools with standardized functionality.
4 .Ongoing, Predictable Costs
- It turns capital expenses into operational pay-as-you-go expenses.
- It pays more focus on operational costs than technical costs.
- It eliminates unpredictable patching, managing, and updating hardware and software costs.
5. Faster Time to Value
- It reduces cost with less required IT support than traditional, on premises solutions.
- It implements new functionality immediately.
6. Support for Globalization Strategies
- It improves collaboration between finance resources in various countries.
- It gains insight and transparency into profitability and cost across the business with standardized processes.
Modern SaaS ERP: What to Expect?
The modern SaaS ERP solution boosts efficiency and automates processes when and where it matters, primarily in times of uncertainty using high-tech machine learning and advanced technologies.
According to a global survey, 91% of respondents say that SaaS enables new technology adoption with finance and operations applications. The technologies include:
1. Internet of Things (IoT)
SourceSuppose you enhance ERP systems with real-time information from streaming IoT data. In that case, your organization can gain more insights, visibility, and efficiencies using smart predictive maintenance, workplace safety, manufacturing, and connected customer experience.
By incorporating IoT data into the company’s supply chains and workflows, organizations shorten their time to produce orders by an average of more than six business days.
2. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
SourceNumerous organizations use artificial intelligence (AI) prebuilt on their SaaS ERP shadow system applications to help drive innovation, automate operations, and make better decisions.
The global survey also has a result on AI. Incorporating AI into the ERP system yields a 36% drop in errors and reduces the time taken to close the books by 3.5 days.
Along with AI, machine learning and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) are part of a software developer kit that creates custom apps, vertical solutions, and extensions.
3. Blockchain
SourceWhen businesses require secure collaboration with numerous parties, the solution is to bring everyone together in real-time to share data. With blockchain, businesses have a collaborative framework to share reliable data. However, according to the survey, 42% of respondents claim automating routine monitoring tasks is the most crucial advantage of blockchain applications.
4. Digital Assistants
Digital assistants like chatbots make it easy for SaaS ERP systems to interact with multiple other systems.
It increases productivity by guiding employee and customer support tasks, delivering faster analysis, providing instant responses, and making smart recommendations.
The survey also states that companies using chatbots had an average of 38% faster analysis and 36% productivity improvement.
Cloud ERP: Here are 10 Signs That Shows Why You Need A Modern Financial System
SourceUndoubtedly, ERP systems deliver significant potential to run your company, improve customer experiences, and directly manage how you compete against businesses.
But, you need to take care of the generational and technological changes in your business and how your present on premise software environment could be holding your organization back.
You now know the benefits of ERP SaaS software over on premise solution. But, how do you know when your company must make the switch to cloud ERP system?
We’ve identified the top 10 signs for you. Next, it’s time for your company to switch to ERP software SaaS during:
1. Heightened Dissatisfaction with Usability
When employees complain about usability and ask why their on premises ERP isn’t like their mobile devices.
2. Upgradation of Finance Systems
When your on premises ERP system requires a costly investment as it ages past support dates.
3. Requirement of New Hardware in Business Systems
When your company’s on premises ERP infrastructure is past due for an extravagant capital replacement.
4. Increased Reporting Challenges
When your management reporting is too inconvenient.
5. Rapid Growth of Company Globally
When your current back-office applications disrupt market growth, acquisitions, and international expansion.
6. Increased Maintenance Costs
When your company’s service costs and system fees increase annually.
7. Increased Business Demands
When your business cannot keep up with increasing demands.
8. More Disparate Data and Nonintegrated Systems
When there is growth in disconnected systems, enterprise data gives conflicting answers to key questions.
9. New Compliance Requirements
When there are increasing financial and compliance requirements impacting your organization.
10. Time for an IPO
When your company is ready for a public offering that mandates strict financial controls and information.
7 Steps to Deploy a Cloud ERP System
SourceOnce your company has decided to switch to SaaS ERP solutions, you might wonder about the next step. Here’s how you can get started!
Step 1 : Define your Project Goals Clearly
Companies must establish KPIs to measure business SaaS operations like infrastructure costs, productivity, and closed financial speed.
You must keep track of your strategy build, provide a baseline to access success at milestones, and build project consensus and approval.
Step 2 : Document Inventory Management Systems and Processes
Companies need to map their complete IT infrastructure, including their internal and third-party solutions, their integration points, and the redundant systems.
You can include your organizational structure to understand the roles aligning with data migration, management, ownership, and use. Defining a single source of truth strategy is essential before starting the project and SaaS product planning.
Step 3: Ensure Strong Executive Sponsorship
Executive sponsorship is essential regardless of what your company size is! You need continuous support throughout your business process management. Along with ongoing employee communication, accentuating the leadership commitment to your new cloud ERP SaaS software will drive success.
Step 4 : Select an Implementation Approach in Alignment to the Organization
The cloud ERP will vary from organization to organization. Moreover, it does not require deploying cloud ERP applications simultaneously. Numerous organizations incrementally choose to adopt high-value cloud services alongside their on premises solutions, resulting in a hybrid environment.
Building towards a complete end-to-end transformation, companies can start a modernization journey with crucial ERP applications.
Step 5 : Support Best Practices Present in the Application
The best modern practices are built in cloud applications so that companies can replace legacy software developer kits along with outdated approaches and processes.
ERP is the perfect place to start your project because cloud ERP solutions deliver almost all the professional services you need with built-in standardization.
Step 6 : Study Analytics and Reporting Early
With SaaS ERP, the users can understand your business in real-time, with advanced data visualization and multidimensional analysis that provides quick analysis without relying on a data warehouse. Your company must define analytics and reporting needs early in the project plan. Then, once the information is live, you can quickly generate in-depth, meaningful reports.
Step 7 : Involve Process Owners and Users from the Beginning
The users of your SaaS ERP solutions determine your project’s success. Therefore, throughout the implementation, ensure to include tests and demonstrations at regular intervals.
SaaS ERP Software: Why Your Business Need it?
From the above analysis, you have come to know that the latter is the winner in the debate of traditional ERP vs SaaS ERP.
Let’s enlighten you on the type of companies that can utilize SaaS ERP in the best way.
SaaS ERP is the best option for companies that:
- Want low upfront costs and a quick path to use
- Don’t need much system customization and are comfortable with the security that the public cloud provider hosting the service provides.
- Don’t have a large IT staff and don’t want to spend time, money, and efforts on upgrades and upkeep.
Get your company’s best SaaS ERP systems and improve your business’ ROI in no time!
Frequently Asked Questions
ERP is the integrated management of major business processes in real-time that is mediated by software and technology. On the other hand, SaaS is a way of delivering various applications over the internet as a service.
ERP is the integrated management of major business processes in real-time that is mediated by software and technology. In contrast, cloud ERP runs on a vendor's cloud platform allowing companies to access the internet.
ERP is a fully maintained and supported cloud solution, covering software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS).
The steps to successful ERP implementation include:
- Plan
- Choose the right team members
- Communication
- Research
- Design and Development
- Data migration and integration
- Test and Go-live
- Change management and training
- Stay connected
- Ongoing partnership and support
ERP is important because of the following reasons:
- Save money
- Improve collaboration
- Better analytics
- Better productivity
- Customer satisfaction
- Simplified risk management and compliance
- Better inventory monitoring
- Better production planning and resource management
The basic features of ERP include:
- Integration
- Data analysis
- Automation
- Tracking and visibility
- Accounting
- Reporting
- Customer relationship management
- Financial management
- Supply chain management
- Human resources
- Sales and marketing
- Manufacturing
Updated : March 27, 2023
