SAP B1 Cloud or On-Premise

Which is the Right Option for My Business?

SAP Business One is available on-premise or in the cloud. The question I am often asked is “Should I put SAP Business One in the cloud or should I go with an on-premise solution?” There is no right or wrong answer to the cloud vs on-premise solution. Every customer is different and has different requirements that will influence the choice of on-premise vs cloud as a deployment strategy for SAP Business One. There are a number of questions to ask before finalising your decision:

Internet speed and reliability – this is stating the obvious but, a cloud-based solution requires reliable, fast internet. If your offices are located in a major city it is highly likely that you will have access to fast, reliable internet. However, if you are based in a new industrial park or in a remote area you might not have the luxury of reliable, fast internet access.
Functional requirements – how much customisation is required during your implementation and will a cloud deployment accommodate these changes? The good news is that SAP Business One can be offered as a private cloud deployment which can easily accommodate your unique requirements, add-on solutions or customised requirements.
Geography – if you have multiple offices across Australia then the cloud can have several advantages – ease of deployment, low cost for new deployments and a simple structure to add additional SAP Business One users.
Third-party solutions – what, if any, third-party solutions will you be implementing to compliment your SAP B1 Cloud implementation?
Integration/development – are you planning any integration or development work using the SAP Business One SDK (Software Development Kit) or the SAP Business One B1i framework?

Cash flow – a cloud-based solution will help with your upfront cash flow by reducing the investment required in software, hardware, operating system, database and IT infrastructure. Of course, this upfront advantage should be measured against the fact that cloud payments will continue into perpetuity. A simple spreadsheet with a 5-year comparison of on-premise vs cloud payments with inclusions for hardware and infrastructure will help you get a better picture of the cash flow impact of SAP B1 cloud vs on-premise.
Growth expectations – the increase in your user numbers and number of locations can influence the on-premise vs cloud decision. Generally speaking, the cloud provides quicker, simpler deployment of new users.
Security – ensure that your cloud provider offers top-level security – both physical (access to servers) and cyber security.
IT Support – does your business have access to internal IT support? The advantage of the cloud is that you can reduce your reliance on your internal skill set by effectively outsourcing your server, backup, operating system and associated infrastructure requirements to your cloud provider.
Existing IT infrastructure – what existing IT infrastructure does your business have? Often the catalyst to go with a cloud-based solution is the fact that a business needs to purchase a new server, hardware and operating systems for their SAP Business One deployment. This is a good time to evaluate the cloud vs on-premise question.

In summary, there is no right or wrong answer to the SAP Business One cloud vs on-premise question. Make sure you review your options carefully based on your company’s requirements. The good news is that SAP Business One can offer you on-premise or cloud-based solutions.