This discussion brief, together with its companion (The Economic Case for Deploying Epicor ERP in the Cloud) is designed to elevate discourse and provide guidance to organizations evaluating the best ERP deployment model (on-premises, single-tenant SaaS, or multi-tenant SaaS), unique to their business and technical environment.
It’s especially important to recognize that there is no universal answer to the question “Which deployment model is best?” as each customer presents unique business and technical requirements and abilities. The purpose of this document isn’t to provide absolute answers, but rather to arm readers with additional (and perhaps better) questions to assist in their internal evaluation of deployment options. This is an especially important conversation for potential (and existing) Epicor customers because of our unique position in offering Epicor ERP across multiple licensing and deployment options.
Except as incidental to framing conversations around cloud deployment, this paper makes no effort to explore core ERP features/functions, or traditional line-of-business topics. While analysis of the fit of the Epicor solution specific to your business needs is warranted as part of your product assessment, the reader is directed to content available at www.epicor.com on all matters of application functionality.
Key Take-Aways
1. The question “cloud or on premises?” presupposes an unnecessary tradeoff. The best answer is ‘both—and I reserve the right to change my answer over time as my business needs to change.’ Epicor encourages customers to demand absolute freedom of choice from their ERP vendor and to not find themselves artificially constrained to only one deployment option due to limitations imposed by their solution vendor.
2. The best ERP systems are ‘everywhere for everyone.’ Deploying in the cloud is (for most customers) the fastest want to tie together remote facilities and mobile employees, thereby streamlining enterprise-wide collaboration and access.
3. Your IT department is ready, willing, and able of doing so much more than ‘racking and patching’ your servers. Moving Epicor ERP to the cloud likely frees your IT resources to focus on more strategic, and mission-aligned tasks.
4. The topic of data security and residency is more nuanced than it may seem. In cloud deployments, the actual physical location of your data may not be obvious, and that may not (or may) matter to you. However the security and disaster preparedness of your Epicor ERP needs to be well thought out, and for many companies, passing that responsibility to Epicor may provide for an elevated level of security, reliability, and availability.
About Encompass Solutions
Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, or renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.
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