This 'ere Cloud thingy

[Mich the Tester]

I've just had a paradigm shift. Building 10, Trap 2.

[DirtyDog]

SaaS provision of ERP functions (HR, Payroll, Finance etc) relies (in some cases) on every customer being on the same version - minor config. only, no customisation. This is because the supplier only has one codeline, and all customers are on it (although customer data is, of course, segregated)

That assumes that you are going onto a shared platform - which is no different from the existing shared platforms, such as Oracle CRM on Demand or any of their earlier offerings.

Given the tech stack requirements for something like Oracle Fusion, it makes sense to host it on Oracle's cloud (or any other cloud provider which conforms to the industry standards), but that doesn't mean you won't be making any customizations to the product - Fusion is as customizable (if not more so) than previous Oracle applications offerings, but can be hosted either on premise or on a cloud provider. And doing away with the infrastructure costs and the techies who just look after the kit rather than the software running on it, is where the savings are.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

That assumes that you are going onto a shared platform - which is no different from the existing shared platforms, such as Oracle CRM on Demand or any of their earlier offerings.

Given the tech stack requirements for something like Oracle Fusion, it makes sense to host it on Oracle's cloud (or any other cloud provider which conforms to the industry standards), but that doesn't mean you won't be making any customizations to the product - Fusion is as customizable (if not more so) than previous Oracle applications offerings, but can be hosted either on premise or on a cloud provider. And doing away with the infrastructure costs and the techies who just look after the kit rather than the software running on it, is where the savings are.

You're missing an important point (probably because I didn't make it clear that Oracle isn't offering the flavour of SaaS I was talking about).

Unless there's a single codeline, you're relying on the provider to support multiple ones and port changes to all - and paying for it in maintenance.
The "no customisation" thing is a selling point (odd as it sounds) because it can allow senior folks to wrest control of the enterprise back from certain areas with their individual fiefdoms. I was sceptical about this, but I've actually seen it.

[DirtyDog]

You're missing an important point (probably because I didn't make it clear that Oracle isn't offering the flavour of SaaS I was talking about).

I guess I was confused by your mention of Oracle and ERP, which wasn't the kind of ERP delivered SaaS that you were talking about

[MarillionFan]

SRM is going to be the big buzz for 2014. It's everywhere at this conference.

[Zippy]

There's some bollocks about Big Data on R4 at the moment. I may start ranting in a minute.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

I guess I was confused by your mention of Oracle and ERP, which wasn't the kind of ERP delivered SaaS that you were talking about

A fair point, well made. I didn't explain that very well.