A 2022 View — Is Your ERP On Borrowed Time?
5 minute read
You’ve been running your business on a legacy Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system for years. You have a streamlined, automated, and FAMILIAR system. Your employees are comfortable using it — from front-office to back. By now, your costs are predictable. So far, you’ve avoided any devastating malware attacks. You believe you have control of your data, and you don’t rely on outside providers.
If this sounds familiar, maybe you are a bit too comfortable with your ERP solution status? During Hitachi Solutions’ recent Customer Conference, Keynote Speaker and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management Leadership Associate Dean Bernie Banks said, “A leader’s job is NOT to make their people comfortable. …Organizations and people thrive over time because of adaptation.”
A leader’s job is NOT to make their people comfortable. …Organizations and people thrive over time because of adaptation.
Bernie Banks, Northwestern University – Kellog School of Management Leadership Associate Dean
We know change isn’t easy. Adapting to new technology and solutions — like a cloud-based, data-driven ERP system — can seem daunting. But, have you considered the scalable capacity that migrating to the cloud can create for you and your entire organization? Resourcing the cloud, suddenly your data travels at the speed of sound, and goes anywhere you need it to go.
Cloud-based ERP reaches your employees — whether they are on-site or working remotely. It offers the accessibility, flexibility, and security that our current working climate demands.
Getting off the ground
When planning for your business future, whether driven by your fiscal budgeting process or out of sheer necessity, consider the following:
- What is your total end-to-end cost of maintaining your on-prem environment?
- Are you in compliance?
- Is your mainstream software support ending or near end of life?
- Is your customer data secure?
- Does your current ERP solution meet the fluctuating demands of your business?
If any of these questions gave you cause for consideration, you’re not alone. A recent Forrester study found that only 24 percent of ERP implementations currently are deployed as traditional on-prem solutions.
Perhaps the most vital component for taking your ERP to the next level is anywhere, anytime availability. Cloud-based ERP provides mobile, on-the-go access to critical business and financial data, allowing employees to conduct back-end and front-end tasks no matter where they are, from the warehouse floor to a retail checkout terminal — or working remotely in any capacity. Mobile ERP promotes collaboration for dispersed workforces in different time zones.
It’s about time — up-time, down-time, resource time, and your time.
No matter how you look at it — it’s time to adapt your ERP solution. At a minimum, it’s time to take a closer look at what cloud migration can do for you, and how that might look for your company. We’re close to calendar year-end. Depending on your fiscal year, now may be the perfect moment to begin planning for not only your software’s end of life, but also for factoring the costs of running your on-prem past its end of service.
Managing the migration
To help you navigate, Hitachi Solutions developed Digital Compass. We’ll partner with you and walk through how to budget, how to engage and resource your team, determine the best timing, and create a roadmap for you to follow. We’ll pinpoint exactly where you are in your modernization efforts and guide and advise you on where to go next.
For example, if you recently invested in your on-prem hardware, initiating a hybrid-cloud migration may be what’s best for your organization. In 2020, according to Forrester, 80 percent of organizations described their cloud migration strategy as hybrid.
Hitachi Solutions will evaluate which entry model is right for you, its cost from an operating and capital expense perspective, and provide insight on the added benefits of cloud ERP — such as security, infrastructure management, and how to scale usage to meet the demands of your business.
We understand the enormity of considering the spend. Worldwide spending on public cloud services is forecast to grow 18.4 percent in 2021 to total $304.9 billion, up from $257.5 billion in 2020, according to Gartner. With the cloud ERP subscription model, you pay as you go and for what you need — so it’s cost-effective.
Hitachi Solutions’ Digital Compass approach guides you through all the applicable considerations and helps you prepare for a successful transition to a digital future state:
- Recent hardware investments
- Determine what’s best for you — technical upgrade or reimplementation
- Estimate costs, licenses, and timelines
- Establish internal champions and gain consensus
- Identify and mitigate platform and integration risks
Lean into 2022 with Hitachi Solutions. We’ll work with you to assess your company’s migration readiness and mitigate any real or perceived barriers. It’s time well spent. Count on our expertise and proven methodology to appraise your needs and, if applicable, guide you through your ground to cloud migration.
Start your journey today! Contact us to learn how we can help you take advantage of cloud-based ERP. Visit us for more information about Hitachi Solutions.
