CLOUD COMPUTING AS A SUITABLE ALTERNATIVE TO THE TRADITIONAL ONPREMISE ERP AND MASSIVE DATA STORAGE

MBANZABUGABO Jean Baptiste (BE, MCA, Ms.SE, PhD.), RUKUNDO Prince (B.sc, M.sc
IT, PhD Scholar); University of Tourism Technology and Business Studies (UTB), University of
Rwanda (UR)
Kigali - Rwanda.
ABSTRACT
This paper sought to aver Cloud Computing as a Suitable Alternative to the Traditional OnPremise ERP and Massive Data Storage based on the information from the institutions that
implement ERP system, government and private organs that considers the adoption of cloud
ERP and professionals comments from cloud technology media blogs. In this gamut, the genuine
number of detriments of On-premise ERP deployment in today technology arena and subsidies of
Cloud Based ERP adoption;
The researcher, after getting the above information conducted as survey about this census to
establish the potential of Cloud Computing based ERP as a suitable and alternative use of the
On-Premise ERP and Massive Data Storage, The study had three main objectives including
establishing whether people are likely to adopt Cloud based ERP and indicating which factors
that are important for them to adopt or not the Cloud computing Based ERP.
Keywords:
Cloud Computing, On-premises ERP, massive data storage, Cloud based ERP, Information
Linking, Information Leakage, Trespassers, Service Outsourcing and Virtualisation Framework.

INTRODUCTION AND PROBLEM

serious standoff concerns before moving

OUTLINING

their Enterprise Resource Planning Systems

to this form of IT evolution.

Cloud computing is one of the latest

innovations of IT which claims to be all

The idea leading to cloud computing

capable of driving the future world of IT

paradigm is that the computing resources and

within minimum costs. This concept of cloud

software are available to the end user,

computing being one side widely accepted

whether an organisation or an individual, in a

by normal users while on the other hand

virtualized environment (cloud) and the user

majority of the Organizations have some

can access it on demand and using a pay as

1

you go approach. These services to industry

Systems (ERPs) and a cloud based service

are respectively referred to as Infrastructure

can be a very enabling medium for achieving

as a Service (Iaas), Platform as a Service

this.

(PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS)

The innermost Concerns todays regarding a

(Hayes, 2009) as well as Data as a

Service(DaaS)

and

Backup

as

cloud

based

system

include

security,

scalability, ease of migration and licensing

Service(BaaS).

issues.

However there are some notable

aspects that need to be addressed: Whether a

very pertinent issue is regarding the security
of the organizational data since data is stored
in the cloud and an organization does not
have a direct control over it?. Yet the security
of

the

organizational

data

is

the

responsibility of the service provider and this

may throws up a lot of issues for an
organization to consider before and after
migrating to

a cloud

based

Systems.

The diagram above depicts the Cloud

Whether the possibility that vendors may

Computing stack

lock in that it might disallow the organisation

to migrate to another service provider when

Enterprise resource planning system (ERP)

it is desired? Nor if cloud service provider

is an enormous piece of software that

releases the organizations confidential data?

integrates the entire organisation into one

giant entity while capturing, changing and

This research paper , would seek to argue

automating the organizational processes.

that Cloud Computing Based ERP Service

ERP represents a company or organizations

Is

central nervous system.

Traditional On-Premise ERP And Massive

Suitable

Data Storage,
One of the issues faced by the organisations

Alternative

To

The

no more fears related to

cloud based system service and ensure the

in the world today is the need to make the

praiseworthiness of confidentiality to the

organisational data globally accessible while

legitimates users of the service. Thus, end up

taking into account the intra organisational

with answers to the leading questions: should

and extra-organisational data which are

we recommend organisations to acquire

managed with Enterprise Resource planning

traditional on-premise enterprise resource

2

planning (ERP) solutions? Or should it

Cloud ERP Compares to on- premise

invest in emerging software-as-a-service

ERP

(SaaS) based ERP solutions?

Comparing ERP on-premises versus Cloud
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURES

ERP is trouble-free based on the plus one

From the senses of literatures the following

offer ahead another.

table highlight the advantage of Cloud based

The basic difference between on-premise

ERP over On-Premise EPR:

ERP and cloud ERP is clear: On-premise

ERP solutions are installed locally on your

Cloud based ERPs
1. Provide on-demand self-service. This means company's hardware and servers and then
that a cloud user can access the ERP System managed by your IT staff while cloud ERP,
capabilities without human intervention from also called SaaS, or Software-as-a-Service, is
the service provider.
provided as a service. With this type of
2. Provide broad network access. This means that
deployment, a company's ERP software and
a user can connect from anywhere, regardless
its associated data are managed centrally
the platform and/or device, at any time
(in the Internet "cloud") by the ERP vendor
(provided there is internet access)
3. Provide resource pooling. This means that a and are accessed by customers using a web
group of users (or customers) share a core set of browser.
computing resources. This is whats meant by a

What may not be so clear is that the type of

multi-tenant model.
4. Provide Rapid elasticity. Capabilities can be ERP deployment model you choose can have
elastically
provisioned
and
released a significant impact across your business.
automatically to scale rapidly outward and Here are some key factors that most of the
companies, organization and SMEs should
inward commensurate with demand.
5. Measured

service.

Cloud

based

systems consider when weighing whether to use on-

automatically control and optimize resource use premise or cloud-based ERP software:
by leveraging a metering capability at some
level of abstraction appropriate to the type of Ownership Costs
service (e.g., storage, processing, bandwidth,
and active user accounts). Resource can be
monitored, controlled, and reported, providing
transparency

for

both

the

provider

and

consumer of the utilized service.

On-premise ERP systems usually require

large upfront and ongoing investments to
purchase and manage the software and the
related hardware, servers and facilities
necessary

to

run

it.

If

companies,

organizations and SMEs dont have a large

subscription model that can make cash flow

or experienced IT staff, may also have to

management and planning much easier.

invest more time and money in additional

Over time, those IT savings add up. When

personnel and train them. Even more

comparing the total cost of ownership of on-

importantly, on-premise systems require that

premise ERP solutions relative to cloud

their IT team spend a significant amount of

systems, one industry analyst study found

their time and budgets ensuring their system

that cloud-based ERP can cost 50 percent

are up-and-running when they need it,

less than on-site ERP for a 100-employee

including maintenance of hardware, server

company over a four-year period.

rooms, and more. When its time for their

ERP system to be upgraded, IT must then

System Upgrades and Enhancements

redeploy the system across the various users'

computers

and

re-implement

various

On-premise

ERP

software

can

be

customizations and integrations that their

customized, but those customizations are tied

business installed on their previous software.

to your current software deployment and are

not easy to re-implement with future

For cloud-based ERP, initial costs are

versions. As your ERP provider releases new

typically much lower because they simply

product updates and enhancements, your

implement the software to their requirements

previously implemented customizations will

and then access it through y their computer's

be wiped out when you upgrade and your IT

internet connection. The cloud ERP provider

hosts

and

maintains

all

of

the

team will have to start customizing from

IT

scratch again. That's the main reason many

infrastructure for them, ensures the system is

companies simply avoid upgrading their on-

always running, that the data is secure, and

site ERP software and just settle for running

that product enhancements are rolled out

their business on out-of-date technology. In

painlessly to their solution without breaking

their

previously

fact, two-thirds of mid-size businesses are

implemented

running outdated versions of their ERP

customizations. Ultimately, this all allows

software.

their IT resources to focus on innovating and

helping grow the business more effectively,

In contrast, cloud ERP solutions like

rather than spending a disproportionate

Microsoft or IBM and so one, are continually

amount of their time on maintaining and

upgraded by the provider so you can be sure

managing their on-premise systems. Cloud

you're

ERP also offers a predictable, pay-as-you-go

advanced version of your ERP software.

4

always

using

the

latest,

most

Because of the cloud platform today's

Not only can cloud-based ERP provide better

leading cloud applications are built upon,

performance and greater accessibility, but

your previously implemented customizations

better security as well.

and integrations automatically carry forward

Deployment Speed

when the solution is updated without

additional investment.
Improved

System

Every ERP deployment takes time and

Performance

requires careful planning, but cloud ERP

and

offers clear advantages when you consider

Accessibility

speed of deployment. Since cloud ERP

Cloud ERP often delivers better performance

requires

no

than on-premise solutions. Cloud software

business

doesn't

architecture is designed from the ground up

procuring and installing IT infrastructure.

for maximum network performance, which

With cloud ERP, you can easily roll it out

can mean better application availability than

across multiple regions, subsidiaries, and

traditional on-site ERP systems. Cloud-based

divisions, avoiding the cost associated with

ERP also offers optimized performance that

those rollouts. If you chose a cloud-based

can adapt to your needs. If there is a spike in

ERP system, these differences can add up to

your business, cloud ERP automatically

a significant time savings: Cloud ERP

adjusts

deployments

and

dynamically

provisions

additional
have

usually

hardware,

your

to

time

take

waste

3-6

months

additional resources to handle the surge. A

compared to the 12 months that it typically

local IT department is unlikely to be able to

takes to implement an on-premise solution.

achieve these results, and may not even be

Cloud-based ERP systems are also easier to

able to regularly report their system uptime

scale, giving you the flexibility to add more

results to management.

users as your business grows. On-site ERP

solutions don't offer the same freedom to

It's also important to note that a cloud-based

give more employees access to an on-site

ERP solution provides real-time data that can

system, it's often necessary to provision

be accessed via the Internet anywhere at any

additional hardware.

time. That means that staff at your company

can see accurate information on laptops,

Every business is unique, so taking the time

smart phones, and tablet devices while they

to consider how different ERP deployment

travel or telecommute all without extra setup

options will affect your company is critical.

fees or ongoing costs.

To learn more about deploying a cloud-based

ERP solution.
5

METHOD OF INVESTIGATION AND

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
Systematic and proactive methods have been
adopted in collecting information from a
population of interest. It tends to be
quantitative in nature and aims to collect
information from a sample of the population

The body of organization and industry

such that the results are representative of the

knowledge about On-Premise ERP systems

population within a certain degree of error

and Cloud based ERP have reached a certain

free.

maturity, public institutions recognise the

The data collection procedure was an

advantages of migration to cloud bias

interviews based with IT partners of Cloud

Massive data Center because all government

service provider companies in Rwanda,

Universities

and

Business

institutions have been clarified and several

Companies,

different private institutions are about to stir.

specific institution that implement ERP

The results indicate that the majority of

system, IT consultants and ERP users,

feedbacks (60%) indicated that they are

government and private organs in Rwanda

willing to allow the switch and other are

that considers the adoption of cloud ERP,

undefined and need to be identified in the

professionals comments from social media

further research. Among the factors that most

blogs will be another source of data to be

people value when deciding to migrate

used in this research.

include a high cost to SME, Security trust,

The other data sources are to be collected

privacy, scalability, ease of migration and

from the scholar studies and recent articles

licensing issues, intellectual property and

that focus on cloud services outsourcing and

other sensitive information stored in the

cloud ERP.

cloud could be stolen., Moreover, the

results

The interviews based on open questions and

touched

on

the

likelihood

of

researcher is the factor of awareness, Internet

built objectively without interfering or

Connection and resistance to change.

guiding the respondents to specific answers

was

conducted

in

various

CONCLUSION

target

whereabouts.

This research paper suggests that there is a

potential

market

for Cloud

computing

Services, and Smart IT delivery towards

6

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