Digital Transformation Built on Cloud ERP

Transcription

1 BUYERS GUIDE TO Digital Transformation Built on Cloud ERP

2 1. Foreword Digital transformation is a fact of life for many businesses today and is emerging as a major business driver in the annual research programme which The Cloud Industry Forum commissions each year. 1 This has established that 44 per cent of companies already have a digital transformation strategy in place and another 32 per cent are planning to implement one. Digital transformation helps organisations review their business from the ground up, gaining a better understanding of their operations and using that knowledge to improve how they respond to business challenges. By definition, digital transformation can't take place without technology. In order to achieve the positive IT change that so often results from such programmes, cloud services need to be a fundamental part of any business transformation. None of the benefits of digital transformation can be fully realised without the agility and dynamic nature of cloud services. With the right vendor partner, cloud services can go beyond simply being hosted software, instead forming comprehensive solutions to the genuine challenges companies are facing. Cloud services are already delivering benefits 70 per cent of those we spoke to say they now have a competitive advantage due to cloud or expect to see one in the future citing flexibility of delivery, operational cost savings and agility for their move. By underpinning digital transformation programmes, cloud services are only set to become more powerful and valuable for businesses. We welcome this buyers guide as an essential resource for demystifying cloud services and helping organisations on their digital transformation journey. Alex Hilton CEO Cloud Industry Forum 1 Cloud UK WP20; Cloud: Driving Business Transformation Published Mar

3 2. Is your business ready for digital transformation? Digital transformation is the force that many businesses are harnessing to become leaner, be more disruptive, and grow faster. One of the essential tools underpinning digital transformation is cloud ERP, dynamic software that allows organisations to integrate information from different sources for a smart, real-time view of their operations. Whether small and fast-growing, or large and well-established, modern businesses are united by the same three key needs: to deliver great service to customers that have diverse needs to find a sustainable route to growth, and to give staff the right tools to help them do their jobs. All of these needs are set against the backdrop of a constantly-changing business environment, where companies have to adapt or be left behind. Customers, like staff, expect businesses to be responsive: to deliver the services they need at the time that suits them, wherever they are in the world. Enterprises need to be increasingly flexible to respond, and able to rely on an IT architecture that won't hold them back. For many, the answer to these challenges is digital transformation: a technologycentric process that enables companies to take advantage of the shift towards doing business wholly online. Digital transformation is a trend that's already being played out in IT departments across the globe. According to Gartner, IT budgets are already shifting in response to digitalisation: Data from the 2017 survey shows that CIOs are shifting their investment pattern in response to digital business, with typical CIOs already spending 18 per cent of their budget in support of digitalisation, a figure set to increase to 28 per cent by Gartner Press Release, Gartner Survey of More Than 2,500 CIOs Charts the Rise of the Digital Ecosystem, October 17, 2016, 3

4 If your business answers yes to any of the questions below, it could be ready for digital transformation. Is your business currently experiencing rapid growth, or expecting to in the near future? Is your business looking to enter new markets? Does your business operate across multiple geographies, quite possibly in different currencies? Is your business likely to undertake mergers, acquisitions or an IPO in the near term? Does your business want to better serve consumers who are used to the very best standards of customer service over online, mobile and social channels? Does your business need to manage its IT spending better, with greater visibility into past spending and future costs? Do you have concerns that your current business management software won t be able support your future requirements? 4

5 3. The benefits of software for digital transformation In practical terms, digital transformation often means adopting a suite of enterprise applications that give the best possible insight into key metrics across the company, automating business processes and speeding up service delivery. The right business transformation applications can help brands establish a solid platform to build on in the future as they embrace new markets and business models. Software for digital transformation shouldn t just be thought of as a way to cut costs it can be used as the foundation for change across the business. With the right software in place for digital transformation, companies can expect to deliver better service to their customers, respond to changing market conditions more easily, and allow staff to work more flexibly and efficiently. Business benefits of software for digital transformation Having access to central, accurate information means organisations can make better decisions faster, and adapt to new business conditions more easily Using one real-time view of key data across the company, every department can work with a single version of the truth Automating core business operations such as lead-to-cash, order-to-fulfilment, and procure-to-pay processes, saves money and reduces time to delivery Improves financial compliance with regulatory standards and reducing risk Eliminates redundant processes and systems, dramatically overall lowering the cost of doing business The benefits of digital transformation for your customers Better customer service through one source for billing and relationship tracking Services that suit their preferred way of doing business, be it in person, on mobile, or through a social channel As digital transformation can help businesses offer services that are bespoke to each customer, clients can expect a more personalised experience Automated customer service means that companies can be more reactive, able to answer customer queries at any time of day or night 5

6 The benefits of digital transformation for your staff Bringing disparate systems together, removing silos and breaking down the barriers that exist between departments and business units, letting employees do their jobs more efficiently Role-based dashboards providing real-time KPIs mean staff have the tools that suit them best Cloud-based digital transformation software allows businesses to meet employees desire to work flexibly and through a range of devices Automated upgrades and bulletproof security mean that staff always have the latest and most secure versions of digital systems. Freed from IT tasks that only serve to keep the lights on, they can take on more valuable work 6

7 4. Cloud vs on-premise So would on-premise or cloud software suit your business digital transformation better? Both on-premise solutions, installed locally on your company s hardware and then managed by your IT staff, and cloud systems, hosted by a cloud provider and accessed remotely by users, have different benefits. According to research by Frost & Sullivan, over two thirds of organisations globally believe that they have obtained competitive advantage through the use of cloud systems. Cost of ownership On-premise Often on-premise means large upfront investment is needed to purchase software. At the same time, there are ongoing costs associated with maintaining and securing the necessary software hardware, servers, and IT staff. Cloud-based Initial costs are typically much lower as software is accessed through a browser, with the software provider hosting and maintaining the IT infrastructure for you. What you need to consider Software providers will typically offer different levels of support to customers ask for details of what is and isn t included in each tier. System Although systems can be customised to meet companies specific requirements, usually they re not easy to re-implement when a new release becomes available. That can mean either paying for custom upgrades each time, or sticking with outdated software. Cloud software can be customised to meet specific requirements. As updates are handled by the provider, you can be sure you re always using the latest, most advanced version of your business software, while still retaining any customisations. Ask for process workflow showing how the vendor handles system upgrades, rolls out new functionality and communicates the impact of changes to their customers. 7

8 Scalability On-premise When businesses pursue an acquisition or joint venture, scaling software to fit the new business environment can be both timely and costly. Cloud-based Cloud solutions are designed to support businesses ranging from fewer than 10 employees to over 10,000 as your business grows, cloud systems can add capacity with minimal overhead: the vendor does the work so you don t have to. What you need to consider Ask for details of how quickly and cheaply your vendor can add new seats to an existing deployment. System performance On-premise requires significant IT investment (both staff and time) to ensure optimal performance levels. However, such metrics are often difficult to report on. Cloud systems are designed to deliver high performance standards which adapt to your business needs, and can adjust to usage spikes in your business. Ask to see a breakdown of the vendor s systems availability and uptime performance statistics. Security Security levels are decided by the IT department, often based on what time and resources are available. Cloud systems should come with the highest standards of security, all delivered as part of the service. Ask for details on the security credentials the vendor has assigned to each system. Compliance The burden of translating new tax or regulatory standards into a company s software falls to the in-house IT, finance, and legal teams working in concert a process that can lead to implementation deadlines being missed. Advanced business applications vendors are able to update their systems to accommodate changes to best practice or regulation in given verticals. Ask your vendor what regulatory standards their software is already designed to meet, and how new standards are built into core business systems. Deployment speed Procuring the suitable hardware and infrastructure can be a lengthy process. Typical deployment time: 12 months. With cloud, there s no time wasted procuring hardware or installing IT infrastructure. Typical deployment time: 3-6 months. Ask for references of implementation examples. 8

9 5. Does your business need multitenancy or single-tenancy hosted applications? Around 60 per cent of European businesses now have their main business management software in the cloud, according to Frost & Sullivan. If you choose cloud software to underpin your digital transformation too, you ll need to decide between single and multi-tenancy applications. With a single-tenancy solution, the software provider has a unique instance of the software per customer. While each instance is individual to each client, all customers have access to the same software components. Multi-tenancy works slightly differently: there s one main software instance that each customer has access to. While they can all use the same software functionality, their datasets are all kept isolated in independent secure containers and never shared. Multi-tenancy applications have several key advantages over single-tenancy applications, including: Lower costs With single-tenancy applications, vendors have to build out their hosting environment to accommodate each new customer. In contrast, with multi-tenancy, new users have access to the same basic software as other customers. That means scaling is easier, as there are far fewer infrastructure implications and that means lower costs for users. Ongoing maintenance and updates With multi-tenancy, customers don t need to pay costly maintenance fees to keep their software up to date. New features and updates are included as part of their software subscription, and are managed and deployed by the vendor freeing up customers IT staff for more important matters. Any existing customisation and third-party integration isn t affected by system upgrades Most multi-tenancy software is designed to be highly configurable, allowing businesses to optimise it to their unique business needs without having to change the underlying code or data structure. As there s no need to change the code, upgrades are performed easily. Uptime, continuity and system performance are managed by the software provider, not the customer Multi-tenancy software providers invest significant amounts of money and effort into ensuring uptime, continuity, and performance, and so avoid any disruption to customers. 9

10 6. Conclusion Digital transformation gives you a competitive edge. Consolidating systems, improving visibility of information across the organisation for faster and more informed decision-making, automating processes, and making sure every colleague is working from the same information these are all benefits that businesses can expect from digital transformation. A world where all business is done digitally has opened up new routes to market for even the smallest companies, allowed organisations to start new conversations with their customers, and enabled disruptive brands to expand at a pace that would have once been unthinkable. In such a fast-moving environment, many companies have found their software and systems have grown up piecemeal, and are now turning to digital transformation to streamline and integrate their assets. Effective digital transformation is built on software tools, most notably cloud ERP. In an uncertain business environment, cloud ERP is agile enough to be futureproof, allowing companies to add new users and features quickly and simply while still retaining customisations. Cloud ERP gives businesses the ability to scale rapidly and add functionality with ease, free from costly update fees or time-consuming integration efforts. What s more, cloud ERP is designed to be social and mobile friendly, and accessible through whatever device you want to use. Can you afford not to have the kind of competitive edge this capability provides? Your digital transformation journey starts with cloud ERP; there s no limit to where it can end. Next steps Oracle NetSuite is a pioneer in cloud computing the world s first company dedicated to delivering business applications over the internet. Today more than 40,000 companies around the world have adopted our mission-critical cloud solution. If you d like to know more about how cloud ERP can give your business digital transformation a head start, contact us through our London office: info@netsuite.com +44 (0)