SaaS Model: Benefits of Cloud-based ERP Systems

Ten Reasons Business Leaders Choose Epicor Industry ERP Cloud

Cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) offers flexibility, scalability, and ease to keep pace with innovation. Let’s explore each of the top 10 reasons business leaders choose cloud SaaS ERP from Epicor to drive growth.

Reason #1—Connect to unmatched industry capabilities and expertise with Epicor

Business leaders in the make, move, sell industries trust Epicor to help them grow, thrive, and compete. We stand side-by-side with our customers on the shop floor. We tour their facilities. We visit their locations and offices worldwide. We engage, challenge, and collaborate with them to reimagine their businesses and reach their growth goals.

Every Epicor customer gains access to a vibrant team with expertise in their industry. In turn, those customers have helped us enrich and strengthen our software for over 50 years. Strong customer relationships have helped us build award-winning software with deep industry-specific functionality. The cloud makes it easier than ever to share industry knowledge and innovate alongside our customers.

Through deployment and beyond, we work with customers to eliminate manual processes and inefficiencies. We share industry best practices—supported by our software—so you can avoid cumbersome customization. We expect you to evaluate process improvements critically, but don’t let the fear of change keep you chained to old ways of doing things. Stagnation inhibits growth and gives your competitors an edge.

Reason #2—Attain world-class security in the cloud

Data security used to mean locking the server room door and forcing long passwords. Today, it means hardened virtual security with scheduled patching, testing, and verification. With global employees connecting through a VPN, your system is at constant risk from new and emerging threats. Unfortunately, you can’t claim to be secure unless you have systems and a team of security experts protecting your infrastructure 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Epicor has a comprehensive, end-to-end security model. We build security into every layer of the ERP environment—from physical network interface cards to user passwords. A holistic approach to security lets us anticipate and minimize disruptions, giving you more uptime and better peace of mind.

Reason #3—Modernize your company strategy with a business continuity plan

Business continuity is a critical aspect of a modern business strategy and with a cloud-deployed ERP , operations remain uninterrupted. Insurers are beginning to require robust business continuity plans—with the cloud’s comprehensive disaster recovery and data backup services, your business can minimize downtime to focus on growth objectives.

Reason #4—Boost business value through customer-proven best practices

With Epicor, the software as a service (SaaS) ERP model makes it easy to pursue innovation, easy to get started, and easy to upgrade. We incorporate customer-proven best practices into our solutions to drive and extend business value—likely more than you may expect. At Epicor, we go beyond the usual pros and cons of cloud ERP and help you assess fit and total cost of ownership. Some advantages of a cloud ERP solution include:

• Necessary infrastructure is already in place.

• Lower capital requirements to access innovation. SMBs often choose the cloud to access world-class software without the capital constraints of onsite systems.

• Better and faster scalability. Cloud ERP solutions from Epicor are scalable and flexible, letting you make changes to your business without major effort or investment.

• Automatic upgrades. Customers find it much more cost-effective to let Epicor manage updates and system administration. We include it as part of each cloud subscription.

• Fewer infrastructure costs. Imagine eliminating those enterprise-class servers and backup systems. You will no longer have to worry about their physical security or replacing them every five years.

• Trim operational expenses. Consider the cost of electricity, cooling systems, backup systems, and remote-access technologies. Running your ERP system on-premises can add up fast.

• Dramatically shorter deployment times for better ROI because the required infrastructure is already in place.

Reason #5—Empower your IT department to support more strategic growth initiatives

IT departments can contribute more to your operations than managing hardware. When they’re simply maintaining your ERP system, they’re not innovating. By offloading that work to Epicor, you empower IT to work on more strategic, revenue-generating ERP projects.

Moving your ERP system to the cloud doesn’t mean that your IT department goes away. In fact, a cloud-deployment model increases IT resource utilization and ROI. Now, you can put that talent to work performing value-added tasks that are better aligned with your growth strategy. With Epicor cloud solutions, you can more easily adopt new business technologies to stay ahead of the game.

Reason #6—Stay current with the pace of innovation with cloud-based ERP solutions

With the industry best practices built into Epicor cloud ERP, you get the customer-proven functionality you need, fast. That alone makes upgrading your system simpler. Beyond that, Epicor cloud solutions deploy every upgrade as part of our standard services. We deploy minor updates transparently and with little to no disruption, and we announce major upgrades well in advance. We even provide a Pilot test environment and end user training to get your feet wet before diving into a major release.

We design upgrades to demand little to no project management on your part. We want you to be happy with the cloud ERP services you receive, and that means maintaining business continuity.

Reason #7—Go mobile, go global, and get collaborative

Mobile professionals power your modern business. Sales and service staff expect ERP access from their mobile devices when they’re out in the field. Customers and vendors expect self-service access to business data. Even onsite staff—such as shop floor operators and logistics personnel—need to stay connected as they move about your facility.

Connect your employees, vendors, partners, and customers with accurate, real-time data. Cloud ERP systems from Epicor empower you to integrate across your entire value chain. When everyone can access secure, up-to-the-minute information, they can collaborate better, make decisions more confidently, and improve efficiency.

Of course, taking full advantage of that connectivity means retiring ad-hoc workflows that impede growth. Move beyond email and spreadsheets with a cloud strategy. Leverage more business intelligence, handheld technologies, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT), and much more with a cloud ERP system.

Reason #8—Simplify your business infrastructure for alignment and scale

Consistent data is crucial for companies with remote staff or global workforces. Move to cloud ERP solutions from Epicor and unify your organization under a single source of truth. You don't need complex IT infrastructure to expand your reach. Our worldwide presence—paired with country-specific functionality—makes it easy to add a new production facility or warehouse anywhere in the world. Localized content and features also help you simplify compliance with local regulations and manage other aspects of global trade.

Reason #9—Get faster time to value

With cloud ERP systems from Epicor, all the necessary infrastructure is always ready. Having built-in best practices also means you'll spend less time and effort on customization. Realizing the benefits of cloud-based ERP a month—or even a quarter—sooner will deliver dramatically faster time-to-value and improve your ROI.

Reason #10—Minimize your environmental impact

Successful business leaders today know their growth strategies must consider environmental impact, and cloud-based software deployment is no exception. Because of the scale involved, cloud computing is now considered one of the most environmentally responsible IT decisions. Since Epicor supports thousands of concurrent users on shared infrastructure, we can match server capacity to ongoing demand and utilize servers more efficiently—thus saving energy.

Learn more about Epicor solutions deployed in the cloud.