A lot of SAP Business One users are asking – “Can I move my SAP Business One system into the cloud?” The answer – YES. The real question that should be asked is “is the cloud right for my business?”. There is no right or wrong answer to the question of cloud or on premise for your SAP Business One solution. The great news is that SAP provides you with choice – on-premise or cloud – you, the customer can decide. Before you decide to move your SAP Business One solution from in-premise to the cloud there are a number of questions you should be asking:

Cost – let’s make sure you compare all costs – cloud vs on premise. I always encourage customers to look at a five year plan. A simple calculation is:

SAP Business One on-premise:

• the cost of SAP Business One licenses, annual maintenance,
• Server,
• Windows operating system,
• MS SQL Server or SAP HANA,
• Back-up solutions,
• IT team member cost (salary and on cost),
• Replacement of the server every 3-4 years.

SAP Business One cloud:

• Monthly cloud investment,
• Potential cost increases as you increase user count or requirements for additional modules.

Existing hardware infrastructure – how old is your existing infrastructure and when will it need replacing? When this infrastructure needs replacing what are the likely costs? Remember to include all costs – hardware, operating system upgrade, database upgrade, consultancy time to install the new server and set-up SAP Business One.

Internet access – don’t have NBN yet? How reliable and fast is your current internet plan and what are the cots to upgrade to a business grade plan with priority of service?

Growth plans – how fast is your business growing? How fast your business is growing and where geographically is your growth coming from (new markets, new industries and new geographies)?

Security – this is a question that people often raise about cloud vs on –premise. Don’t assume that on-premise is naturally more secure than cloud. Once again there are multiple factors that influence security. Most cloud providers who offer SAP Business One in the cloud will offer high level secure facilities. Security requires physical location security (physical entry to the datacenter) and the provision of secure infrastructure.

3^rd party products – are you using any third party applications interfaced to SAP Business One? Alternatively have you got any specific development that is integrated to SAP Business One?

IT support – do you have an internal IT team to look after your current on-premise server for SAP Business One? If so, what are the costs associated with that IT support?
If you are considering moving your SAP Business One solution into the cloud you might want to download our e-book “moving to the cloud”. This book covers multiple topics associated with ERP / business management solutions in the cloud. If you want additional information specific to SAP Business One in the cloud feel free to contact the team at Leverage Technologies. We have several SAP Business One cloud customers (ranging from 2 users to 50 users). Our SAP Business One cloud experts will be more than happy to answer any cloud specific questions you might have.

Download the Leverage Technologies e-book “Moving to the Cloud” to help you make the right decisions.