Top 4 Reasons to Make Cloud ERP the Hub of Your Multi-Cloud Strategy

Update, March 12, 2023. Read Why a cloud ERP is essential to your multicloud strategy for the most up-to-date information on this topic. 

Aren't you glad that building a business no longer has to mean building out a data center?

You can now meet many of your business needs in the cloud, and then deploy on-site only the applications you want to run in house (or that aren't available as hosted solutions). This makes it easier for new companies to get processes up and running. And it means established businesses can phase out some of their most costly (and clunky) legacy systems in favor of sleek, user-friendly cloud offerings.

Of course, if using one cloud solution offers strategic and financial benefits, then using several cloud solutions will offer even more benefits, right? Yes, but this is where one of your biggest IT challenges may lie.

It's now a multi-cloud world, in which companies often rely on solutions from a wide range of cloud vendors such as Avalara. But just as in the days of building integrations between point solutions, you need your cloud solutions to talk to each other.

In other words, your multi-cloud world needs one hub that can put all your information right at the fingertips of your decision-makers. That hub should be a cloud ERP solution. Here are four reasons why.

1. Cloud ERP Increases Your Adaptability

As your organization runs its business processes, your employees may be pulling information from public cloud, private cloud, and on-premises systems. Trying to build your own integrations would be an exercise in futility—and relying on the one-off integrations provided by each cloud vendor will only leave you with a complex maze of connections.

You're much better off using a highly adaptable cloud ERP as your hub, and relying on your cloud ERP vendor's integrations to connect all your systems. For example, Acumatica's integration with Avalara is built right into the platform. If you want to use both solutions, you simply turn this integration on. Read more about the importance of adaptability.

2. Cloud ERP Increases Your Interoperability

Moving business processes from on-premises solutions to the cloud can be a great decision. But what about the years of data you've been storing in those on-premises solutions? How will you get it to the cloud? And what if you decide you'd rather have your ERP solution implemented on your own servers? With the right cloud ERP solution, you'll have the flexibility to move data—and even your entire ERP platform—back and forth. Learn more about cloud ERP interoperability.

3. Cloud ERP Enables Greater Mobility

Freed from the constraints of having to go into an office and log onto traditional on-premises systems, today's employees expect to be able to work from anywhere. With cloud solutions, that's certainly possible—but once again, integration becomes an issue. There's little benefit to having to log onto eight different cloud systems just to do your job on the road.

The right cloud ERP system will solve the complex issue of getting multiple cloud applications to work together, and will give your mobile employees one place to log on to perform their daily duties. Read more about how cloud ERP can enable truly mobile business.

4. Cloud ERP Helps You Focus on What Matters

One of my associates at Acumatica recently met with a company that had been founded (and built its data center) in 2004. He noticed that this company really hadn't updated its systems since then. They were still maintaining their whole stack, while also building their own products. Think of how many dollars and man-hours this company is wasting on IT tasks that could easily be outsourced to a cloud ERP vendor.

More significantly, think of how many business opportunities this company has probably missed because its 13-year-old ERP system can't offer the seamless access to data that today's cloud ERP systems provide.

When you choose cloud ERP, you can not only reduce your IT burden, but also rest assured that your vendor will keep your system up to date with the latest ERP technology. At Acumatica, we've formed a strategically connected cloud in which we maintain cloud technology partnerships that are designed to reduce your long-term costs. Learn more about how cloud ERP helps you future-proof your business and focus on what matters.

Don't Go to the Cloud Without a Hub

The benefits of cloud business solutions are no longer a secret—and more cloud can mean more benefits. But don't just move business processes to the cloud haphazardly. Make sure your cloud strategy revolves around a cloud ERP system that's powerful and flexible enough to serve as your hub.