Enterprise Systems, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and SaaS, Cloud Computing

Although IT budgets seem to be loosening up, they are still leaner than any point in the last two decades. However, regardless of the budget lock downs, user demands are increasing, ironically partially due to the tough economic pressures that have companies and IT managers scrambling for solutions to cut costs and maximize resources. Business cycle times are shortening with increased competition across the globe. IT technologies and ERP, enterprise resource planning, applications and enterprise systems must provide users and manager with quick, reliable information while integrating with increasingly complex and fractionated applications and technology.

In this economic environment IT managers are subjecting potential technology investments to intense screening and green-lighting processes making sure that there will be a return on investment, preferable shorter term than longer. To maximize IT capital investment ROIs, companies are moving away from device-centric technology strategies towards an infrastructure that is application, information and user focused. This is where cloud computing comes in. Cloud computing is driving a root level change in computing that enables technology managers to relate IT infrastructure as a common denominator which makes providing services to users faster, easier and in more customizable format. This new foundation also allows for the system to expand and flex with an organization in a quick and cost effective way by tapping into the “cloud” when necessary.

Cloud computing is the use of a network infrastructure software to forward resources and information to users in an “on demand” fashion. Information is stored in a central server and cached temporarily on clients that include PCs, notebooks, laptops, hand held devices, and PDAs. Cloud computing can reside on the company’s main datacenter or externally with access via the internet. It uses a set of “virtual” computers that provide a user with the capability of starting and stopping servers or use computing time only when there is a demand. It is very flexible in architecture and able to scale up with an organization’s growth without additional cost or resources required for licensing or investing in any additional IT infrastructure or training requirements.

There are three types of Cloud Computing in enterprise systems; Application and Information, Development and Infrastructure.

Application and Information Clouds are also called SaaS, or software as a service. They are on demand applications that offer a full range of business services and features for information reporting to users. Salesforce.com, a leader in on demand CRM, customer relationship management ERP applications is one example.

The second type is Development Clouds which are also referred to as platform as a service applications as they provide application authoring and runtime environments. Google App Engine is a familiar example of a Development Cloud.

Lastly, the third Cloud Computing classification is Infrastructure Clouds, also referred to infrastructure as a service cloud as the provide a virtual hardware environment to companies on an elastic basis. Amazon Web Services is a familiar example of an infrastructure cloud.