Organisations hesitant to run core business applications in the cloud

The concept of `the cloud` has been hyped-up by the industry to such an extent that one would be hard-pressed to find a technology business without some level of cloud strategy.

Jane Thomson, Managing Director of Softworx, a South African provider of business applications and local Infor partner, says: "As with any industry, the cloud is the ICT industry`s over-hyped buzzword that is used often, but is largely misunderstood."

While 60% of South African organisations have expressed interest in the cloud, and while some organisations are moving some of their applications into the cloud, Thomson says the movement is still understandably cautious.

"South African business has taken initial steps running non-mission-critical applications like back-office operations, human resources, talent management and sales force automation in the cloud. The thinking is that, should the cloud fail under any circumstances, the core business of the organisation can still continue."

Some of the major enterprise software providers are upping the ante when it comes to offering cloud-based applications: Infor, the world`s third-largest ERP vendor, has been touted as leading the migration of core industry processes to the cloud. Infor has already gained a significant subscription base, and with the recent introduction of Infor10, customers have the choice of the type of deployment they prefer.

"Infor10 offers flexible deployment options," continues Thomson, "which I imagine will be an attractive selling point for South African customers." Flexible deployment means Infor10 customers have the opportunity to select how much of the system they operate in the cloud. Customers can run their entire solution on Infor10 CloudSuite, or they can keep core enterprise systems on-premise, while running other applications or services in the cloud. The Infor10 CloudSuite Platform features a unified user experience and security, and enables two-tiered, hybrid deployments.

"Whether customers access functionality from in the cloud or in the more traditional licensing models, they get the same functionality and look-and-feel," explains Thomson.

"Infor partners, such as Softworx, use local domain expertise to advise organisations which deployment would be best for their users to connect to any Infor applications. Customers can even move from one deployment model to another, since the same application code is used for all deployment models."

As with most cloud applications, Infor10 CloudSuite has the benefit of allowing customers to choose the deployment option that suits their business best, as well as greatly reducing the initial multi-tenant solutions set-up time to hours and minutes, instead of days and weeks. Customers now also have the power to lower their capital budget requirements for system usage and reduce the overall burden on in-house IT staff.

"It is interesting to note that critical business software is making the move to the cloud, and I predict the uptake in South Africa, based on recessionary challenges and strategic business decisions in 2012, will show increasing acceleration," concludes Thomson.