SAP IT Infrastructure Management – on-premise vs cloud

A leading ERP system, like SAP Business One, can be deployed either on-premise or in the cloud, to integrate business functions across your organisation. The decision as to which approach is best for your business should be determined by reviewing your business needs.

What do we mean by on-premise and cloud IT infrastructure management? 

SAP Business One ERP Solution – On-Premise

Seen as the more traditional approach to SAP’s IT infrastructure management, physical hardware is either purchased or leased, and resides at one of the company premises.

This hardware and the IT network would typically then be maintained, updated and supported by in-house IT personnel or an external IT services provider.

SAP Business One – Cloud

In a cloud system, the SAP IT infrastructure management application is deployed through the internet. A cloud system is easily customisable and can integrate with the on-premise platform, meaning it can include all variants of this approach – Public (Multitenant Cloud Hosting), Private (dedicated cloud hosting). In many instances, the sensitivity and value of the data will often dictate the variant you should use.

Private – A dedicated cloud hosting solution means that your business owns the platform and its resources are not shared.

Public – This method of delivery differs from the dedicated solution in that the architecture used is shared between multiple users and businesses.

For both SAP and non-SAP systems, each implementation approach will require a different level of maintenance and support for your internal IT infrastructure. Businesses are usually only responsible for having the appropriate broadband, external internet connection, individual pcs or laptops, and mobile devices.

With a cloud-based SAP ERP solution, business applications are hosted and run externally, in an easy to scale  and fully SAP certified environment.

Choosing the right implementation for your business management software

Finding the best approach to implement your SAP Business One ERP solution must be based entirely on the specific needs of your business. We can help with analysing major areas, such as your IT Infrastructure management, IT support and required hardware.

Analysing these business needs against the benefits and drawbacks of an on-premise or cloud approach will allow you to make the right decision.

It also helps to make expenditure forecasts for each potential approach. This can be done by looking at the key considerations for on-premise and cloud against an accurate total cost of ownership comparison.

Here is a list of the common considerations for SMEs with SAP Business One ERP implementation:

On-Premise ERP Solution Considerations

1)   Do I have the skillset in-house to maintain the IT infrastructure for an on-premise approach?

•   Will we be reliant on a single person for service management?
•   What additional training will that employee need over the next 5-10 years?

2)   When will the server(s) and operating system need updating during the next 5-10 years?

•   When these are updated will that also mean the pcs on the network need replacing?
•   When I upgrade the servers, will I also need to upgrade other business applications?
•   Will system users need retraining for new software applications?

3)   Who is responsible for testing the system back ups and maintaining the company disaster recovery plan?

•   What is the business cost of system downtime?
•   How does upkeep of the IT infrastructure for Cyber Security impact on our business insurance?

4)   Do we have the right IT infrastructure in place to meet both our RPO (recovery point objective – point in time to which application should be recovered / acceptable data loss)?

5)   Have we tested to ensure we can meet our RTO (recovery time objective –  the amount of time taken to recover back to the RPO as a minimum)?

Cloud ERP Solution Considerations

1)   What investment, if any, will I have to make to improve the quality and size of our existing broadband connection?

2)   What type of cloud environment do I need – private or multi-tenant?

3)   Will I want to migrate other business applications to the cloud in the future?

4)   How will I get access to copies of company data when the contract ends or if the provider ceases trading?

5)   Will my data reside in the UK?

•   Is there any industry legislation to consider regarding where the data resides?

6)  How far back will the system data backups be maintained; in case we need to return to a previous backup?

•   How will we know that the data backups have been tested?
•   What level of disaster recovery will I need – 2 or 3 level backup and restore?

7)   What service levels (uptime, support case handling times) will I receive?

•   Will we be able to access the applications 24/7?

8)   What additional security steps will be available to ensure that my data is secure?

•   Will these security measures be easy to undertake when working from home and remotely?