A survey commissioned by Hitachi Solutions Europe has recently revealed that 31 percent of organisations have moved all or part of their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems to the Cloud, or are in the process of doing so. The survey questioned 315 senior finance professionals with the aim of understanding their position and perceptions around ERP in the Cloud.

At this time 69 percent of respondents have not moved their ERP systems to the Cloud, but 44 percent said they would consider moving to the Cloud in the future. Of that 44 percent, two thirds (67 percent) said they would contemplate moving in the next two years.

Looking at the responses from larger organisations (those with over 500 employees) suggests that it is no longer just smaller organisations taking a Cloud-based approach to ERP. In fact, 27 percent of larger organisations surveyed said they have moved all or part of their ERP to the Cloud, or are in the process.

Tim Rowe, Director, Hitachi Solutions Europe said, “While in some areas movement to the Cloud has been quite rapid, because ERP is seen as business critical and inherently complex, it has been slower to move to Cloud. Now, however, we are starting to see a shift as the benefits start to outweigh the perceived risks.”

Of the 22 percent of respondents who have already moved all or part of their ERP to the Cloud, the main benefits they have experienced include easier access to information, with 30 percent ranking this as the number one benefit, followed by reduced operating costs and ERP performance. In addition, 80 percent of this group rated their experience of using cloud-based ERP as excellent or good.

All respondents were asked to rank what they perceived to be the main risks associated with moving ERP to the Cloud; 38 percent ranked data security and privacy risk as either their first or second greatest risk. This was followed by connectivity and dependency on a third party provider, which was ranked by 35 percent of respondents as the first or second greatest risk.

Respondents were asked what they would do differently if they were migrating their ERP to the Cloud again. Recommendations from survey respondents included making “a more informed choice on the actual providers” and “look[ing] more seriously at third party provision”.

Steve French, Executive Vice President, Hitachi Solutions Europe said, “Working with a trusted implementation partner on a project of this magnitude is vital. Partners should be able to work with you to test if ERP in the Cloud can help meet your business objectives and support you on your Cloud journey.”