180 View – The article is clearly biased as Oracle is pushing its own Oracle Fusion Human Capital Management system. But the article also contains some good definition of terms and discusses what Oracle considers myths and reality. For example – “One of the most controversial policies with a SaaS-only model is the forced upgrade policy. Niche SaaS providers tout their ability to deliver frequent ―vendor-managed upgrades that deliver innovation. In reality, forcing customers to upgrade to the next version of the application on the vendor’s time frame can have negative downstream effects, resulting in additional costs and complexity.”

Those identified as cloud vendors that publish financial statements are currently showing strong growth. Yet what we mean by “cloud computing” is likely to evolve, as will the incumbents’ offerings. The big vendors have big resources, they have (or will have) cloud offerings and are pursuing broader platform strategies that may provide compelling advantages to some customers. The smaller vendors are showing flexibility. The cliché of the fat lady has yet to sing applies to the current environment.”

180 View – Our view is that it is futile to resist the cloud. The major vendors have jumped on the cloud bandwagon and will soon offer cloud-like alternatives. We find that many small and midsized businesses are ready to take the leap into the clouds and believe there is a business case and that the cloud vendors will protect their data.

The deal extends SAP’s reach in the market for cloud computing, which lets customers rent software delivered over the Web rather than install it on their own machines. The company is promoting the idea as a safe way to outsource data centers and reduce the need for hardware. The SuccessFactors acquisition comes six weeks after Oracle agreed to buy another cloud competitor, RightNow Technologies Inc., for $1.5 billion…”

180 View – If you had any doubts about the future of cloud computing, follow the money.

180 View – Salesforce will not topple Microsoft, Oracle or SAP. It’s like saying the Toronto Maple Leafs will topple the New York Yankees with no offense to the Maple Leafs.

180 View – The article discusses the usual concerns related to security and ROI but also discusses another factor often overlooked and that is the IT talent that is needed to maintain and optimize an on premise IT infrastructure. Talented IT graduates start their own businesses or get hired by companies like Google and Microsoft and are hard to find or retain.

180 View – The article includes a link to another article entitled “35 Questions Every CFO Needs to ask about ERP Software in the Cloud” – that’s worth a read. Take a look at the chart on Current and Projected Cloud Usage, which was based on a Harvard Business Review survey. The chart shows extensive cloud usage at 16% now but growing to 52% in 3 years.

180 View – It seems that everyone has jumped on the cloud bandwagon. KPMG has done a good job in clearing the cloud hype in this article.

180 View – We were not aware of any ERP cloud based offerings from Sage so did a search on Sage’s website and found an interesting blog – What is cloud computing?. There is no mention of any of Sage’s ERP systems in the clouds but you can bet that Sage will be jumping on the cloud bandwagon along with just about every other ERP vendor. The blog does differentiate between SaaS (software as a service), PaaS (platform as a service) and IaaS (infrastructure as a service). I don’t the article did justice to the differences between these cloud formations. In my opinion, SaaS provides one instance of the software that is shared by multiple organizations using multitenant architecture. Traditional on premise systems need to be rewritten to provide SaaS. PaaS provides one instance of the software to one organization allowing specific customization but it will be more expensive. Any traditional system can be hosted using PaaS. IaaS includes not just software in the clouds but also any data, hardware, servers and networking components.

180 View – The article is partly based on a NetSuite user conference and discussion with attendees who will naturally be somewhat biased in their opinion of cloud computing and NetSuite. We would go further than cloud-based ERP is at a tipping point. It is now prime time technology and all the major vendors are scrambling to get on the bandwagon.

Many of the survey respondents — 77 percent — expect overall revenue at their companies to be higher one year from now. The biggest revenue driver over the next three years? Cloud computing…”

180 View – Despite all the doom and gloom you hear in the US, it does seem that things are picking up on the technology front. Our experience is that cloud computing is not a driver of technology investment. Rather it is now a viable alternative.

At Convergence 2011 in Atlanta on April 11th, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced the upcoming launch of the Dynamic ERP solutions in the cloud. Windows Azure Cloud platform is going to host Microsoft Dynamics AX, GP, NAV and SL ERP Solutions. According to Kirill Tatarinov, Vice President for Microsoft Business solutions said in this context that applications will support multi-latency.

At last Microsoft made its move towards the ERP market through a SaaS Cloud delivery. This is going to be a major shift for Microsoft and its entry into the Dynamic ERP Products market at SMB and mid-market segments. The successor of Dynamic NAV is planned as the first Dynamic ERP product for SaaS cloud delivery and scheduled for 2012…”

180 View – Although other vendors have a big head start in the clouds, Microsoft will still have a huge market as most organizations are still grounded in their own premises. As well, any doubts about the cloud’s future should be blown away.

180 View – There will be a lot more wins by Microsoft in the clouds as organizations would rather keep the office products they know.

180 View – The article predicts that Microsoft will be on a buying spree. I can see Microsoft buying SaaS vendors. Too bad that Oracle owns most of NetSuite.

As more than 9,000 users and resellers convened here for the annual confab, keynote addresses by Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer and corporate vice president of Microsoft Business Solutions Kirill Tatarinov offered little in the way of specifics on the company’s plan to bring its Dynamics products to the cloud…”

180 View – The article also includes “In a meeting with the press and analysts, Microsoft executives gave a brief preview of its Dynamics cloud strategy, as Tatarinov confirmed that the company is planning every future major ERP product release to be Software-as-a-Service, beginning with Dynamics NAV in 2012.” Now that is big news but it’s not clear how Microsoft will be able to pull this off as SaaS products are typically browser-based and use a multi-tenant architecture (one instance of the software being used by multiple organizations).