Parting ways with a legacy solution isn’t always easy. The old, familiar processes and workflows may be comfortably predictable, even if outdated. Now, as companies begin to prepare for post-COVID recovery, the need for a change is harder to ignore. The cloud is tempting.

Necessity forced many companies to accelerate cloud adoption as they transitioned to a remote workforce, online services, and contact-less offers for customers. The leap into digitalization wasn’t as frightening as imagined. Those cloud experiments proved positive, removing lingering hesitations for many risk-adverse companies.

Quarantine did have its upsides (like yoga pants 24/7 and groceries delivered to the door). Now, we know nearly anything is possible – if you have connectivity. Cloud has become a ubiquitous presence in solving challenges small and large, in our personal or business lives. 

What’s next?

Are enterprises ready to make the ultimate commitment – migrate the core ERP to the cloud? There is no question this is a big step for many, especially in industries where security is essential or systems can’t be interrupted.

Some also worry that untangling the heavily modified on-premises solution could be a challenge. Would we miss those modifications? Can we achieve success with a multi-tenant solution?

Organizations are saying, “Yes!” But: they want to understand what the cloud can truly deliver, and where the hype and gotchas reside. Cloud solutions that have best practices built in offer a better way of simplifying workflows and process. You don’t have to reinvent the answers or forge new, elaborate proof-of-concept initiatives to experiment with data management. The processes and tools are there. Built in. 

Cloud simplifies the complex

Cloud solutions simplify many business challenges. Here are ten examples: 

1. Agility. Want to change direction? No problem. Cloud solutions are highly flexible, making it easier to quickly set up new divisions or branches, break off business units, or merge with partners. Go ahead. Chase new concepts or business models.
2. Innovation. Think outside of the box. Encourage cross-functional collaboration within your organization with real-time tools for sharing ideas, files, and data. The deep storage capacity of cloud solutions will support ongoing R&D efforts.
3. Automate steps. Solutions backed withArtificial Intelligence (AI)help enterprisesanalyze processes and make smart decisions. Take advantage of cloud’s vast storage capabilities, use AI-driven analytics to find anomalies needing attention. Set up trigger events and automate responses, such as quality control checkpoints.
4. Yes? No? Maybe. Make well-informed decisions based on system recommendations. Some yes/no checkpoints can be automated, the system deciding if sufficient standards are met.
5. Streamline security and services. Security is a top concern for many companies, and they are relieved to learn about secure infrastructures, especially when provided by experts like AWS. A provider can also manage maintenance and disaster recovery and day-to-day needs, making the entire IT function simpler to manage and maintain. 
6. Rules. Rules. Rules. Governance requirements have become confusing and time-intensive to manage in some fields. Always-modern cloud solutions can help companies stay current on the latest requirements.
7. Do-it-yourself reporting. For many legacy systems, reporting is complex, requiring assistance from the IT team to custom write queries. Modern solutions deployed in the cloud often have AI-driven reporting that guides the business user through creating customized reports.
8. Power to the people. Cloud solutions give business users tools to help them do their job, often from any place, anytime. Remote connectivity is simplified – without risking security.
9. Platform as a service (PaaS). Choosing the right PaaS will give your team tools for no-code and low-code applications so they can build out specialized functionality as needed.
10. Stretch resources. Finding qualified IT technicians isn’t always easy. And your existing team may be stretched beyond capacity. Cloud solutions relieve your IT team of day-to-day maintenance, security, and back-ups so they focus on more important tasks. 

An example in action

Penn Highlands Healthcare (PHH), a six-hospital integrated health system in northwestern Pennsylvania, was faced with mounting complexity. It selected Infor CloudSuite Healthcare and Infor Cloverleaf Cloud as partners for future success. Working alongside key Infor implementation partner Bails, the move to a more modern cloud architecture solution will provide PHH with a clinically connected healthcare operations platform, ideal for building a patient-centered network. Heather Schneider, Penn Highlands Healthcare CFO, said: 

Our organization has grown and evolved throughout the years, both through a healthy pipeline of acquisitions and organically, and we needed to find a partner that could help us seamlessly consolidate disparate systems into one single source of truth. 

PHH will be able to consolidate information across its network and deliver financial data to decision makers. Budget management, cost reduction strategies and accurate forecasting will be simpler than before.

Infor Cloverleaf Cloud will also be deployed, delivering clinical integration technologies for sharing data across the care continuum. Teams at PHH have access to secure messaging, monitoring, archiving, resiliency, and cost-efficient interoperability via industry standard protocols and web services. It all happens seamlessly and easily, regardless of the source system. That’s simplicity at its best. Mike Poling, Infor Healthcare Senior Vice President and Group Manager, said: 

The influx of data isn’t slowing down anytime soon, and this rings especially true for larger healthcare organizations. Technology is now a competitive advantage with its ability to empower teams, improve results, and remove administrative redundancies, within a single interface.

Final thoughts

Cloud solutions provide the powerful end-to-end solutions that organizations need to modernize and simplify processes. Complexity can be tamed and managed with the right solutions. By moving the entire core ERP into the cloud, enterprises can make bold, high-impact changes. They can shed the modifications of their legacy solutions. They can employ proven best practices and confidently embrace the future.