Whats Your Small Business Need To Know About Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is a fancy buzzword today. The phrase ‘cloud computing’ refers to remotely delivering scalable storage, processor power, memory, apps and other advanced computer services all over the net. Why is it going to be useful for you?

During the times of unstructured data, creating new value from business information is a revolutionary act.

Transforming corporate digital structures into the cloud could be a tricky endeavour. For growing number of organizations its a complex issue to move their applications, unstructured data and all type of business information into an organized cloud. You can customize SAAS (Software-as-a-Service), PAAS (Platform-as-a-Service), IAAS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) models to successfully integrate into your existing network solutions. Deploying a multi-service strategy by combining different type of network services has powerful benefits for your organization.

Small company coffice.at is a local wholesale distributor of coffee machines and accessories in Graz, Austria. Since 2012 the company is using SAP cloud based enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution to better optimize its inventory, simplify accounting and other processes. Using SAP cloud solution for SME’s can speed up your billing, follow real-time sales revenues. Planning and managing corporate finances in one surface should help you to view complex financial questions from different point of views.

Costs vs Business Value

Exploring new ways of using your organization existing data has number of corporate advantages and future improvement opportunities. Aside from discovering practical methods for further process optimizations you may reduce organizational business redundancies. You can also integrate new technologies for your operations such as AI related pattern recognition for business processes, security related IT operations, robotic process automation, new smart logistics and manufacturing applications, Internet-of-Things (IoT), data analytics for real time business decision making, etc.

Cloud based solutions have cost advantage related to infrastructure: you have to pay only after your current hardware resource needs, therefore you can save costs while you still have the quick flexibility for proper scaling and de-scaling business procedures. Its easier and safer to deploy, manage and change your current needs.

CaseStudy2: Schwan Cosmetics: Building a Sales App on the SAP Cloud Platform to Support the Sales Team: In order to speed up and customize product cycles, Schwan Cosmetics developed a Sales App to support its sales team. With the help of SAP Digital Business Services the app was implemented on the SAP Cloud Platform in less than 4 months. (Show me the full study)

Why Use Cloud Infrastructure? (ROI)

Infrastructure development is a financial investment. When you are going to calculate on your return on investment (ROI) about transforming into the cloud, you should take under further consideration your value added unique benefits.

According to Janice Dunstan, IBM Cloud Managed Services Global Portfolio Manager, the benefits that actual companies have experienced after implementing cloud managed services include:

• Increased customer satisfaction rankings as a result of deploying cutting-edge technologies that help companies better identify and respond to changes in demand
• Reducing time spent managing and maintaining infrastructure by 90 percent
• Accelerating time to market for new products and services by 60 percent through rapid provisioning of IT resources needed for development
• Improving recovery time objective (RTO) after a disaster by 98 percent through geographically-dispersed disaster recovery solutions
• Faster, more accurate reporting by speeding access to enterprise information by 50 percent

(Source and full article here from IBM: Calculating the ROI of migrating SAP to cloud managed services 02/10/2017) 

SAP gained cloud capabilities mostly through acquisitions (SuccessFactors (HR), Hybris (PCM), Concur) and added inhouse product development (SAP Cloud for Analytics) to its current portfolio. CRM, eCommerce, ERP, HCM, collaboration and analytics solutions are all under one corporate umbrella now, it has solid knowledge support to find the proper customized scalable corporate solution for any size of enterprise.

How you measure ROI in cloud infrastructure investments?

There is no limit of investment in cloud infrastructure development, precise measurement of ROI in a proper cloud infrastructure implementation will include recent growth in customer satisfaction, faster sales processes, optimized resource usages, increased reliability, security and risk management. Its also worth to mention the unique benefits of creating and optimizing a new way how you collect, store and analyse your real-time market information.

Case Study3: Not Just For Business: Ever heard of a hig tech company with a veterinarian on staff?! EPI-USE does! After these SAP implementation experts grew their company, they decided to make a purposeful impact to help impoverished people, and save endangered wildlife in South Africa using SAP cloud solutions.

Show me the full study, where EPI-USE Saving Elephants and Rhinos Through its Non-Profit Called ERP

Questions an SME’s Executive Should Ask

An SME mostly has limited financial resources, especially related to further tech deployments and CapEx. They are typically sensitive for development and infrastructural costs, so sometimes they end up to implement their own self-made solutions. Usually your self-made solutions are fixing issues in the short run, but later on time it may lead to further headaches and more complex problems.

If you end up deploying complex but inefficient integrated IT solutions it may lead to poorer productivity, lower ROI, and you may lose cutting edge market advantages.

Therefore we collect few questions an SME’s executive should ask before implementing any cloud strategy:

• Whats the measurable opportunities for your organization to move into the cloud? How to empower the line of your digital business? Why do you want to integrate deeper your business into the digital economy? Why you need to further personalize your solutions for new business needs?
• Whats the threats of missing cloud infrastructure integration on time? Whats your competitors are doing right now? Whats your target? How do you want to gain further market advantage by using integrated cloud infrastructure?
• Can you clearly identify your current corporate business process weaknesses? How can you create new advantage from current issues by transforming into the cloud?

Properly understanding your current and future business requirements, performing proper due diligence, calculate total costs of ownership (TCO) and compare additional costs can benefit you to understand where is your organization now, and where you are heading in the near future with or without advanced cloud deployment.

Case Study4: Yaskawa: Sparking Creativity and Collaboration with a Supplier Portal in the Cloud

Yaskawa wanted to upgrade its suppliers’ system and move it to the cloud. Working with NTT Data, Yaskawa implemented SAP Cloud Platform in a smooth and efficient project. Now its internal developers can use templates to implement best practice and are empowered to create innovative new applications. (What Links a User Friendly Supplier Portal in the Cloud with the Smartphone in Your Pocket?)

Why Use One Database For Everything?

Whenever you find a way to store your data in an integrated system, ideally it will help you to manage everything from marketing, accounting, HR, CRM in one surface. When you move your local digital structures into the cloud you can build more efficient and secure business applications that leverages in-memory technology for faster results.

In-memory computing eliminates predefined aggregates, materialized views, and data duplication between operational and decision support systems. The result? Real-time data for real time decision making (source: SAP for SME’s)

Cloud computing can help you to run operations across your different area of business real-time. In the age of digital transformation, new integrations among different IT solutions and business processes may guide you to enormous issues. Using a single cloud enterprise solution provider can help you to reduce complexity of your systems, properly scale and deeply integrate smart operations, and enable data-driven new business innovations.

Why SAP?

If you want to understand the future prospects of corporate cloud computing, just have a look to the openly available current SAP corporate numbers. Recent financial reports and corporate announcements shows SAP’s results saw cloud and software revenue growing up to €4.94bn (£4.1bn) in Q2/2018, up from €4,76bn this time last year — and the company has raised its ambitions for 2020 as a result.

SAP Facts in numbers: 44 years and 300,000 clients, 100+ innovation and development centers worldwide, 77,000 employees in 131 countries, 87% of Forbes Global 2000 are SAP customers.

The german software giant is a leading innovator and has excellent worldwide reputation of enterprise product advancement and customization. Recently as part of a five year 200 million dollar investment plan, launched its data center in UAE, flows multimillion dollar infrastructure development investments in Latin America, and all over the world for research and development. It is a solid cloud infrastructure provider with extensive experience in worldwide development operations.

Search for customers like you: visit SAP customer reviews & case study testimonials for further best practices. For a SAP Cloud Jobs in Europe, you may wish to follow the SAP Recruitment Agency – Eursap

Thank you!

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SAP users tell why they are building an intelligent enterprise. Four SAP customers from a variety of industries explained why their companies are building intelligent enterprise systems. Reasons include responding to business and data growth. (Show me the full article here)