As early adopters of the cloud raced to implement applications that they hoped would make their businesses more flexible and agile, they failed to consider if or how each application worked together. Most departments simply ran off and picked the best solution for their individual needs. While they certainly experienced some early benefits from the cloud, this lack of strategy eventually created a disconnect across each business.
The problem is that the cloud alone doesn’t support flexibility and agility. With this in mind, here are the main five reasons companies should be giving the FrankenCloud a wide berth:
It’s highly inefficient
When companies have a FrankenCloud, it’s because they’ve pieced together applications from various cloudplatforms that don’t seamlessly work together. This means that users have to deal with multiple logins, separate UIs, and information that’s spread out across different databases. As a result, users have to maintain multiple records which often leads to disconnected reporting and ultimately costs the company both time and money.
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It creates integration headaches
When applications run on different cloud platforms, they never quite fit together. This means that it’s nearly impossible for various departments, which all have different workflows, to smoothly handoff information and automate processes.
It creates silos that impact decision making
With ERP FrankenClouds, executives are unable to get the whole picture of their company’s health because each app has its own data. As a result, the data doesn’t provide a holistic overview of the company’s successes which ultimately leads to bad decision making.
It hinders a company’s visibility into the customer experience
Similarly, FrankenClouds make it difficult to share or access information across departments since each team is using a different platform. This means that companies aren’t getting a 360 degree view of the customer which negatively impacts the customer experience.
It weakens security
When companies implement applications from various platforms, information often slips through the cracks. As a result, standards for security, auditability and business continuity are not secure. This is not only a security risk for the organization but for the customer as well.
Evading the monster with one platform approach
While many companies continue to struggle with the monster that is FrankenCloud, there is one surefire way to get the flexibility and agility they were originally hoping for. The trick is to implement applications that run natively on one platform. A one platform approach enables companies to support the entire workforce, from the front to the back office, with a set of cloud applications that share the same reporting tools, databases, security models and user interface, all under one login.
See also: How to keep ERP complexity out of the spotlight
In addition to eliminating the need for third-party tools that synchronise data between clouds, using one platform ensures that important information is stored in one place, so employees have the ability to access the information they need across any device, increasing cross-team collaboration and improving productivity. This consistency between applications also makes it possible for executives to get full visibility into business performance which leads to more informed decision making.
Sourced from Kevin Roberts, general manager of platform at FinancialForce.com
