As a business grows and matures, many harbor the desire to increase efficiency via automation and streamlined processes. They then start to explore what Enterprise Resource Planning system would best fit their processes and budgets then invest in the licenses, supporting infrastructure and implementation in the hopes of realizing 10X + performance.The costs of deploying an ERP typically fall into the following categories:

• Infrastructure costs

• Application costs

• Implementation costs

In this post, we’ll focus on the infrastructure component of the costs and how these can be mitigated using the cloud.

The infrastructure cost for deploying an ERP can be prohibitive. Some of the challenges include:

1. Capacity planning and scalability (how much hardware should you buy, when).

2. Steep upfront capital expenditure costs for infrastructure (many times this includes the cost of licenses).

3. Costs for infrastructure upkeep and maintenance (which are normally difficult to plan for perfectly)

In addition to the physical servers, networking gear and network attached storage that host the application, the enterprise will find that they need to build-out specialized rooms to host these servers. These rooms feature backup power and systems and specialized cooling systems to ensure the servers operate in an optimum environment.

The enterprise will also need to invest in skilled expertise, not only for the operation and maintenance of the servers but the maintenance of the supporting infrastructure as well. This means that a deployment can quickly scale into the tens of millions of shillings at times even the hundreds of millions, increasing the period required to realize a meaningful return on investment.

This situation has changed in the last decade as cloud hosted ERP options begun to come online. Cloud deployment models offer very compelling advantages:

1. Pay per use – If your enterprise is starting out and needs a small server that can be scaled up as the usage increases, cloud allows your enterprise to easily start small and grow as your business grows. This allows you to only pay for your consumption, not your planned consumption. You don’t own the home, so you can start from a starter house and move to a bungalow when the children arrive.

2. Infrastructure as a Service – you pay consolidated costs that include cooling, power backup and redundancy that are a fraction of what it would cost you to build out your own data center.

3. Managed service cost – The skills required to keep your platform up and running are shared across various enterprises, with the net result being more affordable labor costs.

With Node Africa, you can host your SAP or Microsoft NAV ERP locally very cost effectively, with low latency in country servers, 24/7 support and license leasing options on your Windows OS and MS-SQL server.