ERP on premises or SaaS – expedient or strategic decision?
Conclusion: The options for processing ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) range from on premises to managed services to public Cloud to SaaS (Software as a Service). The attributes of all the solutions, including the risks, costs and benefits, can appear overwhelming and may persuade risk averse senior management to make an expedient decision and keep the status quo.
IT managers must engage their risk averse peers and force them to think through the issues and make a strategic, rather than an expedient, decision as whatever they decide will have long-term ramifications.