InsightaaS: Cloud Tweaks presents research and editorial posts from various sources (both staff and outside experts) to inform readers about key IT topics: cloud, convergence, and green, grid and utility computing. In this post, Jon Roskill – known throughout the IT industry from his time as head of Microsoft’s channel organization – discusses how “built for the cloud” ERP systems vary from systems that are “adapted to” the cloud. As the CEO of SaaS ERP supplier Acumatica, Roskill clearly has a vested interest in the debate; nonetheless, though, the post provides useful reminders of key issues in assessing the long-term outlook for cloud-based products and platforms, which can be applied to ERP and to other SaaS investments.
It may just sound like semantics, but there is a real difference between something that was “built for“ versus “adapted to.” Would you rather buy a house that was “designed for“ energy efficiency or one that was “adapted to“ be energy efficient?
“Built for“ describes a software product that engineers designed from the ground up to utilize and incorporate the features of cloud computing technology. “Adapted to“ implies a software product wasn’t specifically designed with cloud computing in mind, but rather a company made its older, legacy solution “compatible ” with the cloud.
This is an important distinction for several reasons…
Read the entire post: http://cloudtweaks.com/2014/06/built-cloud-vs-adapting-cloud/
