Manufacturing the Cloud: 2 Tier or Not 2 Tier...

March 20, 2014

... Yes, that is

indeed the question.

This week finds your avid blogger manning the NetSuite booth at the Oracle OpenWorld conference in

San Francisco. We are Grande (anyone want a cappuccino?) sponsors of OpenWorld and our CEO Zach Nelson is delivering a keynote speech on the benefits of running NetSuite in conjunction with an existing on-premise ERP solution(opens in new tab) in a two-tier model.

Two-tier ERP(opens in new tab) is increasingly common among large and often multinational companies that have (or are adding) smaller and less complex business units. Rather than the massive time and expense of installing on-premise ERP at each distributed unit, they are deploying cloud ERP and synching it with the system in place at headquarters.

A number of NetSuite customers run two-tier ERP, realizing numerous benefits:

•Cost. There, did I get your attention? One of the major reasons companies approach NetSuite for two-tier ERP is that it would simply be too expensive to extend their existing solution to smaller and geographically diverse locations. There's not only the license cost, but also hardware, training, communications, etc.

• User adoption. Companies rely on users accurately entering data into the system and a new / smaller business unit often has entirely different needs than the mothership. It’s hard to get users to adopt a system in which they have to do 10 times more administrative work than they currently are.

• Configurability. A system that is as easily configured /customized as NetSuite means that not only can each business unit have processes configured to meet their needs, but each user can further personalize their environment to ensure optimal efficiency.

Accessibility. All this is way more effective with a cloud application because the entire system can easily be accessed from anywhere, from mobile or conventional devices, and managed from a central location without annoying VPN or other secure remote connection technologies.

Want to find out more about two-tier ERP? Visit us at Oracle OpenWorld booth #1801!

- Gavin Davidson - Vertical Market Expert, Manufacturing

NetSuite has packaged the experience gained from tens of thousands of worldwide deployments over two decades into a set of leading practices that pave a clear path to success and are proven to deliver rapid business value. With NetSuite, you go live in a predictable timeframe — smart, stepped implementations begin with sales and span the entire customer lifecycle, so there's continuity from sales to services to support.