Why Your Enterprise Needs a Cloud Strategy to Resolve Issues of Siloed Operations?

Over the years, working dynamics have evolved. From physical proximity considered to be essential for running effective processes to achieving the same efficiency while working from home. From running critical processes from highly secure physical brick-and-mortar sites to running them from any geographical location by adopting technology providing the same level of security.

Organizations should focus on building a virtual environment for the future, wherein businesses can be run from any location or system with no data availability issues or accessibility and security. Automation should be a part of the core strategy to make processes agile, transparent, and cost-effective. To enable this, running disparate ERP systems will not be an ideal approach. Organizations should integrate ERP systems with cloud to facilitate global connectivity. Cloud adoption offers the following benefits:

• Global Access: Cloud offers better accessibility of information by making data available remotely. Also, data can be shared with additional users, or accessibility can be revoked for existing users, as required. With data available on the cloud, data reporting also becomes easy as it eliminates the efforts necessary to source the data from disparate systems. Furthermore, data can be easily integrated with third-party applications to create recurring reports for business performance evaluation in real-time.

• Cost-effectiveness: Cloud solutions require little or zero investment for software development or maintenance and require no specialized IT infrastructure or workforce.

• Better Maintenance, Faster Upgradation: Cloud solutions handle maintenance and up-gradation seamlessly with operational scalability in communications, bandwidth, hardware, etc. Further, implementing cloud-based solutions can be eight times faster as compared to traditional on-premises solutions. For instance, implementing a cloud-based cash application module can be accomplished in as low as four weeks, whereas upgrading ERP from one version to another can take up to two years.

• Global Process Policies: Cloud solutions help set up global policies for accounts receivable, credit, and collection operations. These solutions can automate manual operations, ease bad debt, improve cash flow by reducing DSO and working capital, lessen deduction and dispute resolution time, and obtain higher recoveries. Moreover, they can incorporate multiple languages and currencies that enable operations globally.

Seamless data availability provides real-time information to customers, such as real-time updates on shipments and payments. Furthermore, the ability to automatically transfer data in any format to any device or system, to share details on an order, shipping notice, tracking details, payment information, or remittance advice, improves customers’ experience and empowers them with data insights to optimize order and payment processes. As highlighted above, cloud allows smooth data integration across a distributed network, where data is verified, validated, transformed, and transmitted according to the receiver’s requirements. Overall, cloud provides a connected ecosystem where relevant users can share data as and when needed.

However, integrating individual processes into cloud does not resolve the issue of siloed operations. It just adds another layer of complexity to the overall process. For example, having a cloud-based bolt-on for handling credit management system, but the remaining processes are left on on-premise ERPs or legacy systems. In this case, processes will still be running in a siloed environment with limited information across processes. Further, these setups might have stability and connectivity issues.

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