5 reasons why mid-sized companies are stepping up adoption of cloud ERP

Nobody expected to be trading in a pandemic but like it or not, that is where we find ourselves. Ambitious companies with long term plans have kept business going come what may. Most have continued to market their products and many have been able to pivot in another direction to make the best of the circumstance they found themselves in.

But one trait of winning companies stands out for me. The refusal to put digital plans on hold. These businesses know that those who went before them on the digital journey are now reporting increased resilience and even gains and wins.

The wrecking ball of Covid 19 has bypassed such companies – witness the comment made by James Forsdyke, Head of Product Management at Lloyd’s Register – when he wrote on Linkedin recently – that he was;

“Taking a moment to reflect on how ‘lucky’ we were at Lloyd’s Register for having implemented an end to end cloud based ERP before the global pandemic hit. It felt really hard at the time, but ultimately meant we could keep all our lights on during global lockdowns and continue to support our customers who themselves perform such essential functions for the world at the moment.”

You can read the story of Lloyd’s Register’s transformation journey here – and the part played by InCloud Solutions in making that happen here.

Here are 5 good reasons why mid sized companies are actually forging ahead with their digital plans and stepping up adoption of cloud ERP.

1. Offers agility in a pandemic

If we’ve learned one thing during Covid 19 it is the need for business agilty. The initial lockdown came with very little notice and there is no doubt that those who had digital infrastructure in place moved quickest.

As this recent academic study states;

“Companies that have adopted cloud-based ERP are much better at working from home, and therefore ahead in maintaining continuity during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Therefore, interest in the adoption or acceptance of cloud-based ERP has become important at this time.”

Factors Affecting Intention to Adopt Cloud-Based ERP from a Comprehensive Approach Byungchan Ahn and Hyunchul Ahn  Graduate School of Business IT, Kookmin University,  Korea 2020

2. Helps you make better decisions

Good service is vital to keeping customers happy. In tough economic times many will be looking to cut back and it is the companies who deliver the best service who keep their customers from leaving. If you can pin point where and how you can do better, you stand a better chance of improving your performance.

With insight to action data analytics baked into SAP products you can see where you are falling down and get to work sorting it out. Smart analytics is one of the strongest reasons why mid-sized companies are stepping up adoption of  cloud ERP now.

3. Keeps your CEO out of jail

Compliance has never been more important and more tricky. With countries changing vat and taxes on the fly during the pandemic you can be forgiven for wondering what the rules are. Add Brexit into the mix and things really are quite uncertain. The good news is that SAP have a commitment to their cloud customers to keep them compliant and feed through regular updates. Several possible Brexit scenarios are ready programmed and waiting to go. Your CEO will not go to jail if you are using SAP Cloud ERP! At least not for non compliance.

FOR MORE ON CLOUD ERP THE BUSINESS HEALTH ENABLER – GET THE IDC REPORT HERE

4. Collaboration is the future

The ability to work remotely in teams has been a defining feature of the covid restrictions and collaboration tools have taken the business world by storm. But we need to do more than just talk and share screens. Now the most advanced ERP providers are looking at bringing your live ERP data into the mix. Heads up – the SAP Business ByDesign team are waaaaaay ahead of the game! Shout out to @janmatthes

5. Because you intend to grow

“Our customers choose us because they intend to grow”

This is what the head of SAP Business ByDesign Rainer Zinow told us at our most recent customer event. Cloud ERP is a growth enabler – helping you to speed up your business processes, become more efficient and ultimately to scale up in size from just a handful of users to a full size corporation.

Trading in a pandemic

Growth may seem optimistic in a pandemic, but the ones who need to worry are the ones who can’t do any of the above.

If you want to make the best of the future you need to be able to collaborate with your team and work remotely, keep on top of changing rules and regulations, make decisions based on data and keep as agile and flexible to circumstances as possible.

This is what one customer said recently;

“Being able to seamlessly work remotely and deliver remote audit work to clients, through already established systems and solutions, has made a big difference to our global brands.”

Global Head of Commercial at Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance Limited

This could be you! Don’t hesitate to get in contact today to find out more about SAP Business ByDesign [email protected]

Telephone: 01628 876723